


Do you feel it?

by heydaddy



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Blind Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Fluff, M/M, Modern AU, More to be added as story proceed in order to avoid spoilers, Previous Jesse McCree x Gabriel Reyes, Slow Burn, Support Groups, Veterans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-09-14 20:32:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9201635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heydaddy/pseuds/heydaddy
Summary: Gabriel returned home from the war as a broken man. The only things making his life easier is alcohol and the ridiculous(ly hot) blonde man, he bumps into at the most random places.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi and thanks for taking the time to read my very first Overwatch fanfiction! I am not sure how long this will be, but I have a story planned. If you notice any grammar errors, please tell me. 
> 
> There will be different themes discussed in this fic; blindness, PTSD, depression, etc. Suicide might become a problem, but I will post a warning when. If there is anything wrong with the facts I try to front; please tell me. I am more than willing to learn.  
> This will not be an accurate description of any of the mental disorders mentioned in this work. This will not be an accurate description of blindness or any injury the characters may have. 
> 
> I hope you will enjoy the fic. Thank you.

The dust looked like snow as the sun hit the small particles through the glass. She roughly tied the curtains together, allowing the fresh light to fill the room. Gabriel let out a groan. He was lying sprawled out on the couch, painkillers strewn around him. With a fuzzy memory after a long night (and an intense headache) he couldn’t recall how he managed to spill all the pills over the entire room, and kick down his sofa table.

Amélie moved over to the other window, and swiftly ripped the curtains apart from each other, which rewarded her a grunt from Gabriel.  
“Can you stop doing that?” he mumbled, while turning away from the blistering light. His head was already aching enough. 

There was no reply from Amélie, who opened the window with a soft click. Her shoes tapped harshly on the floor as she moved over to the kitchen bench with an out-dated coffee machine. The machine slowly turned to life, the sounds sending chills down Gabriels back. He had meant to throw it out, seeing how the sounds reminded him of unwanted things, but being addicted to coffee, he couldn’t throw it out before he found another one. Which was easier said than done, with the scarce amount of army pension he got. 

“So you are just going to lie inside all day?” her voice was depleted of emotion, as per usual. 

“Any problems?” his voice was coarse, and damn wasn’t he thirsty? His body was starting to function again after waking up, and a red signal was beeping in the back of his mind. When was his last meal? He couldn’t remember if it was yesterday, or the day before or the day before that again. 

After returning home from the army, it was like all energy had left him. Even moving to the toilet seemed like a chore, and the painful migraines he had, which most of the time were caused by hangovers, made it only worse. 

He didn’t notice her footsteps, before she was beside him and kicked away his legs. Gracefully, she sat down behind his knees, bending one leg over the other. He allowed a glance over at her, and saw the mug she was holding out towards him. Cautiously of spelling any of the contents, he mustered the energy to sit up and accept the cup. They sat in silence, her with striped skirt and a marvellous white shirt, him with baggy jeans and a hoodie dragged over his face. It was funny actually, to look at the two of them, and see how they had handled things after returning home. 

Amélie accepted help from an acquaintance, though she had shown much resistance at the beginning. She had managed to get her life (in others eyes) straight. Mostly because she actually managed to get back out into work, and landed a job as a translator. She was better than before, yet at the same time she would never be the same. He could remember how she had been before; all smiles, holding her husbands hand. Now she always had that guarded look over her face, no, over her entire body. The way she moved and always searched with her eyes for escape routes and vantage points. The war had really eaten her up and spit her out.

Meanwhile Gabriel had become the tragic example of a veteran. He huffed out a laugh. Living on alcohol and self-hate, that was how he did things now. It annoyed him to se Amélie so proper, sitting there like a fucking example of the American dream.  
His eyes followed her strong legs, as she jumped up from the sofa. She hadn’t finished her coffee, and it seemed like that wasn’t a part of her plan.

“Your refrigerator is empty. We are going out to buy food, get ready.”

She was already out the door. He plopped down on the couch again, groaning. This was the reason he hated being with others. Annoying as hell.  
The store was peaceful. There were no annoying families with hella lot of kids, and no foul-mouthed old men, shouting like they owned the entire place. But even though it was calm, the lights… They made Gabriel feel like someone was banging his head with a hammer, while screaming into his ears. He wasn’t sure if it was migraines or alcohol anymore. 

 

Amélie was strolling in front of him, with her (ridiculously) high heels, and putting things in their cart. He had no idea what she was buying, but he didn’t say anything. Usually when they went out like this, Amélie would pay for his food, for a reason he couldn’t comprehend, and pick out a lot of stuff that he wasn’t sure how she knew he liked. Once she had picked out something really nasty looking; he had dissed it, but when he woke up at 3am, feeling hungry as a wolf, it had been almost too delicious. He didn’t admit that it had quickly become his favourite meal, but she continued to buy it, seemingly happy every time she realized that it had mysteriously vanished from his refrigerator. 

Putting his weight on the cart, he almost seemed young again, like a child out with his mother shopping. After returning home, everyone had said that going out was important, that it was necessary for a healthy mind. The problem was that venturing out made his bones feel like lead and his mind an empty box full of feelings of loathing. It wasn’t that bad now though; he only wanted to throw up and scream because of his head.

A pair of fingers snapped in front of him, waking him up from his thoughts. 

“Can you go get milk?” Amélie asked, a subtle hint of what he believed to be annoyance passing over her features. 

With a small roger that, he parted from her and made his way downwards the aisles. His hands were buried deep down into his pockets, the warmth reminding him of his couch and blanket at home. He couldn’t wait to lie down into it, and not care for the rest of the day. 

Just as he passed one of the aisles filled with biscuits, a man walked down the opposite way. He realized too late, and with a loud thud, crashed right into the other man. Gabriel almost fell face flat down, but the stranger managed to grip him by the shoulders and haul him up to balance. They stood there for a few seconds, panting, before Gabriel got back to his senses. With a rough pull, he managed to get away from the stranger and distance himself. Unconsciously he fell into defensive stance with his feet, and felt a small blare of anger wake up.

“Maybe watch where you are going next time?” Gabriel spit out, his voice full of venom. He was straightening his hoodie, before he let his glance go over to the other man. Which wasn’t smart at all, since he was sure that he looked more non-threatening than ever.

The man was wearing a pair of pilot sunglasses, his jaw sharp and God those lips. Gabriel couldn’t help that his eyes searched over the other man, from his shorts to the muscular arms sticking out from a t-shirt (which did nothing to hide his good form) and blonde hair. He looked like sex on legs, no, he was the definition of being sex on legs. A small look of annoyance was clear on the other mans face, before he straightened up.

“Right back to you,” the other man answered bitterly as he pushed past Gabriel with an air of anger. The answer confused Gabriel, before he realized what he had said to the man when they bumped into each other. 

Before he would have tried to stop the other, to try to flirt with him in hope to get into his pants, to be excused of his idiot behaviour, but that wasn’t now. He wasn’t the same. And no way in hell did he have a chance with someone who looked like they were modelling for Calvin Klein. With a small reply, lying on his tongue, he turned around and continued towards the milk. Suddenly he was feeling a lot worse than he had before.

When they got back to his place, he plumped down onto the couch with no comment. Amélie silently put the items from her shopping into his refrigerator, before she made her way over to her purse and picked it up.  
She halted before the door, as she always did. He knew what she was going to say. 

“I am going to the support group for veterans I have been telling you about, tomorrow.”

He closed his eyes as he heard her close the door and leave. Usually she would ask him if he wanted to join. Which was before he had thrown a beer bottle after her head and cursed that damn group she always talked about. That was the only time he had seen more than that blank look on her face.

He didn’t need help. He could get through this on his own. This was just a phase. No one could help him. Not even himself.

 

He was leaned over the toilet as he threw up all the alcohol he had drunk. His eyes were stinging with tears as he clutched the toilet, trying to focus on not passing out. The image of the refrigerator full of food he hadn’t touched were flashing in his mind, reminding him on the hunger that had started to burn in the bottom of his stomach.  
Sitting still like a mountain, he waited for the nausea to pass. When finally, better he got up, flushing his mouth in the sink and allowed himself a small look in the mirror. 

He couldn’t recognize himself. It was pathetic. His face were starting to lose fat. He was getting thinner, and more unhealthy looking. His fists were turning white as he clenched the wash, small hiccups leaving his throat. Why was he like this? Why couldn’t he just get up and fix his damn life?

It is because of what you did, a small voice sounded in his head. Wet trails were falling from his eyes.

No. He couldn’t think like this now. What the hell was he doing? He was no different than others. He could do everything other could, if he just set his mind to it, and stopped pushing everyone away. Jesse hadn’t called him in two months, Sombra hadn’t knocked on the door with her smile of sunshine for, hell, he couldn’t remember how much time had passed. The diffuse memories of shouting at them for annoying him, when he was clearly drunk, still hurt a lot. But he didn’t manage to send them an apology on the phone.

The phone. 

He needed to change. Hastily grasping after the phone in his pocket, he pulled it out and unlocked it. 02:24. Scrolling through his contacts, he found the one he was searching for. A small spider emoji decorated the side of her name, not in disrespect, but due to her love for the animal.

Clicking on the letters was difficult. It was like they were swimming around, and he tried to write as coherent as possible.

Gabriel: ill joink 2morrow. 

It didn’t take long for Amélie to reply. He grunted when his phone clinged. 

Amélie: 4 p.m, I’ll be at your place. 

He huffed out a laugh as he read her message. Amélie never wrote more than necessary in their few conversations over phone, which kind of suited him. There was no surprise in Amélie. Not anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SECOND CHAPTER!! The plot thickens...  
> I just wanted to say thank you for all the support! I can't describe how much it means to me, to wake up and see that someone has commented on this! I will forever be grateful.
> 
> There are some things I forgot to mention in the previous chapter:  
> \- forget everyones canon age. Most of the characters here are around their 30s, so if not stated otherwise, you can just assume that. Gabriel is older than Jack by two years.  
> -there will be no regular posting schedule, but I try to write whenever possible! The next chapter will hopefully be out this weekend!   
> -I made a tumblr! If you want to talk to me, my tumblr is heydaddydad :) 
> 
> And once again; thank you for reading! 
> 
> (Do not fear to correct me on my grammar errors. English is not my first language, and I do not have a beta reader, except myself)

Amélie was furious. When she had appeared at his door at exactly four o’clock, and seen him lying sprawled over the bathroom floor like a slayed animal, she had kicked him into the shower. Afterwards, she had almost broken the door, when she, with the strength of a savage, closed the door. Gabriel had cursed at her, angry, because of her lack of gentleness.

As the water was melting over him, removing the edge of nastiness that had etched into his wellbeing, he realized that he was dirty. He never realized how dirty he was before he was standing under the water, feeling the soap remove the dirt and sweat from his body. 

When he came out of the shower, Amélie had prepared a sandwich for him. She simply handed it over and made her way out of the apartment, down to her car. Fumbling with the lock, and the sandwich he held with his mouth, he became aware of how shabby his street looked. Amélie was a bright contrast to the horribly dull colours and poor looking brick houses. It hadn’t been long since someone had broken into his house, and taken the few things of value he had. Of course they had let the cursed coffee machine be, seeing how it looked like a heap of trash. 

They sat in silence as the car rumbled down the road. This was a bad idea. He should just head back home, drag himself up the stairs and lie down on his couch. Everything was already tiresome, and the usual headache was starting up again. Maybe Amélie would let him be in the car, so he didn’t have to move. So he could be alone.

He didn’t realize that they had pulled up in front of a small university, before Amélie exited the car. With a last sigh, he kicked the door open and made his way to follow her. 

 

The group was supposedly held by volunteers and entirely free. They were situated in a small circle, chairs forming a circle. Even though he had wasted time at home, they were ten minutes early, so they had time to watch as the other joined the room. Amélie was trying her best to be nice, making very short small talk with the others who entered. For the first time, he saw her smile (though it was without doubt fake).

It was a woman with an accent, probably European, who was the leader of the group. She had already been in the room when they entered, reading a small brochure. Her blonde hair was set up into a ponytail, long blonde streaks falling in front of her face. She had a wonderful smile, and radiated warmth to anyone standing close to her, and Gabriel could understand why she was the leader of this group. 

Gabriel pulled his cap down further over his head. He regretted going here. Before they had even started, he had pushed his chair a little behind the others, distancing himself. 

He should just leave. This was bullshit. In no way could this help him, make him better. He was a lost case. The tune of how his life would go, was already known to him; he would continue drinking until his liver collapsed or an accident happened and he would not have to money pay the medical bill, so he would die a tragic death. And honestly, he didn’t have anything against the dying part. The sooner it happened, the better.

The chairs had almost been filled up, men and women, most around his age but a few old ones, were seated, looking quite at peace, yet antsy. Only one chair was left. This entire atmosphere made him feel like he was being strangled. 

He was about to get up and leave, when the door smacked open once more. His breath got caught in his throat.

It was the ridiculous hot man from the store. He was still wearing sunglasses and clothes that revealed the summer sun outside. In fact, Gabriel became self-conscious when he noticed the summery wear of the other participants, compared to his baggy jeans, beanie, and hoodie. 

The blonde woman got up and almost ran over to the hot stranger, saying welcome and shaking his hand. Gabriel was sure he was about to faint when he saw the most wonderful flash of white teeth, and had to peel his gaze away from them. With small sidelong glares, he saw the leader guide the man towards the remaining chair. The man walked weirdly careful, like if he was thinking through his next steps with great care. 

Luckily the chair was on the opposite side of the room, which allowed Gabriel to take in his toned body. He really was as hot as he remembered, possibly even more. Even though Gabriel wanted to go home and drink until he lost comprehension, it was a refreshing change to see someone this sexually appealing. 

Though there was one thing he hadn’t seen the last time; the cane that was leaned up towards his chair. Their previous encounter had only lasted for a few seconds, but he had managed to miss it. It wasn’t anything special; just a simple stick. 

Seeing how this was a veteran support group it was quite possibly that he had been shot; maybe he had trouble walking? It didn’t make sense though, seeing how he had managed to hold him up from falling. What could be the reason for the cane? Maybe he didn’t have so much trouble walking, only a few times, so he carried it with him in order to rest on it if needed?

The meeting kicked alive with the blonde woman introducing herself. Her name was Angela Ziegler supposedly, and she was a doctor. Her voice was smooth and relaxing, as she handed out papers with info and brochures that she had found interesting. Of course Gabriel planned to throw these when he got the chance. No way in hell, would he read something as boring as this stuff. 

Angela introduced the co-leader of the group, a woman by the name of Ana. Ana was seated right at mr. Hot Stuffs side, and usually he would find her pretty, but compared to the blonde man, no one had a chance. 

She introduced another person who was new, a middle aged man, with a really bland personality. Right after, Angela directed her speech towards Gabriel, telling everyone that he was new. He felt a blush creep up his cheeks as he had to introduce himself, feeling oddly weak. Then they went on to introduce everyone else, which were something that they usually did, in order to “establish trust.”

After the two first names, he lost track. They were probably twelve in total, including the leaders. Then it was the blonde mans turn.

“I’ve been here quite a lot of times now, so many know my name, but for the new ones, my name is Jack Morrison.”

Gabriel almost fell on the floor in shock when he heard his voice. It was like… hot ice. Hot, slick and cool at the same time. And Jack? He could imagine screaming that while clenching his bed sheets. 

“Thank you, Jack, ” Angela said, a tender smile on her lips. Jack gave a short nod, before he leaned back into his chair once more, staring straight ahead instead on Angela. For some reason, he didn’t really seem to look at people, mostly just staring at a spot in front of him. Or Gabriel wasn’t really sure, cause he was wearing sunglasses (which was starting to annoy him a lot; what if his eyes was ugly?) It was apparent that he was paying attention though, so it was not bad manners or him being a douche. There was also the fact that he hadn’t seemed to notice Gabriels staring; which wasn’t bad, but kind of disconcerting.

It felt like a pit had taken place in Gabriels stomach, making him aware of every movement Angela made. He didn’t know how to respond if she wanted him to “talk”. Fidgeting, he started tapping his foot and tapping his fingers, until Amélie sent him a death-glare. She silently leaned towards him and whispered.

“You don’t have to talk.”

After that he could sit without fear at least.

The meeting dragged on, for over an hour. He wasn’t sure how long, seeing how he had managed to forget his fucked up phone at home. Amélie had been stressing his ass off at home, so it wasn’t weird that he forgot it. It was painful to admit it, but it somehow felt nice to have listened to everyone. They all had their stories, some elaborating more than others. The only thing they all had in common, which Gabriel didn’t share, was that they weren’t as tragic as Gabriel. 

He could imagine living like this; meeting up every now and then, talking about their problems. Learning how to cope, with the support of strangers. But no one had the same problems as him. They weren’t the same kind of monsters, no matter what they did, they could never beat him. He was garbage, deserving all of this.

Suddenly they were wrapping up. Everyone was thanking for a good session. One of them had started crying during their monologue, a small girl with brown hair. Not that he cared, he didn’t even remember her name, but it had been kind of annoying to listen to her hiccups during her tale.

Amélie was already on her way out the door, and Gabriel flashed a last look towards Jack. During the time he turned his head to look behind him, he managed to walk into Amélie, who he didn’t realize had stopped walking. They collided with a small huff; she immediately sent him one of her infamous glares.

“Why did you stop?” He grunted, standing weirdly close to her. 

“I need to speak with someone here, just wait here,” she murmured. 

He rolled his eyes.  
“Couldn’t you do that before you started walking outside?” 

She vanished back in, without a reply.

 

He ended up leaned towards the wall, just right outside of the door, but just so that he could watch the others mingle. Someone had already left, but a few were speaking with each others, discussing things of no value to him. He distantly noticed that Amélie was speaking with the brown haired girl who had cried, and it was somewhat funny to watch. She had never looked more annoyed, with a fake smile plastered over her face. 

Ana and Jack was moving towards him, probably on their way out, but it still made his heart skip a beat, when he suddenly got the feeling that they were moving to speak with him. Just as they were about to leave, Ana suddenly apologized to Jack and ran back to Angela again.

Jack stood there, looking like an abandon animal. He was only about a meter away from Gabriel, holding his cane like a lifeline.  
Gabriel knew; this was his only chance at speaking to him. If he didn’t do it now, then he probably would have to join more of these (not) tedious meetings. 

“Hey, muchacho,” he said, trying to sound laidback. Just like a deer caught in the front lights, Jack swirled around, so he was facing Gabriel. And just stood there.

The seconds passed by, and it just got more and more awkward. Gabriel shifted his weight from one foot to the other, intimidated by his weird attitude. Was he mad because of their last encounter? Did he even remember that? Probably not.  
Just as he was about to open his mouth again, the other man spoke.

“Are you the man who bumped into me yesterday at the store?” 

He was wrong. He remembered. Fuck. This was going to be awkward, no matter what. 

“Good memory there, Sir,” Gabriel said, light humour on his lips, trying to joke away his nervousness. Jack scoffed.

“Hard to forget someone with a voice like that,” Jack murmured.

“Voice like what?” Confusion swept over him, but also a small red warning telling him that he was being mocked.

It looked like Jack was thinking through what he was going to say, before he opened his mouth.

“You know what? Forget it, I am honestly not in the mood to speak with you. Why you even cared to speak to me, if not to apologize, is behind me.”

“Apologize? I’m sorry Mr. Better-than-you, it was you, who walked into me,” Gabriel growled. This was really no surprise. No way in hell could someone as hot as this douchebag, have a good attitude in addition to good looks. And no way in hell, was he going to take shit from someone who was a rude shitlord, even though he started their conversation.

“Well, then maybe you should watch where you tread,” Jack seemed to be completely done with him. That was before he said the most stupid thing ever.

“Just a small idea, but if you quit wearing those sunglasses inside, maybe you could see where you go, you know.”

Silence.

Jack suddenly laughed, but there was no humour. 

“Oh, I wish that was all I had to do in order to see.”

It didn’t make sense at first to Gabriel. Then it hit him. Holy shit. Jack Morrison was blind. Gabriel felt like hitting himself in the head with a book. That explained the cane, the sunglasses (or he wasn’t sure if that actually was a blind person thing) and the way he seemed to orient himself after sound. It wasn’t weird that he was blind either, seeing how he was at a veteran support group. Probably damaged himself during the war, and sent home because of his sight.

With no control over his speech, he managed to make an even bigger fool of himself.  
“Are you blind?”

Jack was taken aback by this. He stared at him (or was he staring? Sure, felt so), in total shock. Gabriel was aware of a blush spreading over his face.

“Are you kidding me? I am walking around with a cane, for Gods sake.”

Before Gabriel could say anything more, Ana appeared at Jacks side. She gave him a small overlook. Any reply Gabriel had, vanished.

“You ready to go?” she asked, seemingly very ready to go home.

“Yeah, I am,” Jack answered, and started walking towards the exit. He didn’t say anything more to Gabriel, as he made his way outside. Ana reluctantly followed after him, but not before she had cast a small look over her back at Gabriel.

Amélie appeared shortly after, signalling that they were ready to go. Gabriel followed silently after, like a dog, into her car. As she started up the engine, alcohol and rest was far away from his mind. A name connected with a face had replaced it, pushing away all other thoughts.

Jack Morrison.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk if ya all saw that i deleted the last chapter i posted. i had several reasons for that; 
> 
> 1) the story was wrong  
> 2) i regretted everything after posting  
> 3) it fucking sucked 
> 
> soooo i am currently halfway through writing chapter 4 (since i decided on cutting chap 3 in two parts, instead of one). i also thought it was better to post less and more often (the chapters will be around 2k, even though this is only 1k).
> 
> thank you for all the support though!! i hope you'll enjoy this chapter, and what's going to come! i have planned some big things to come, and surprise!! i decided on slow-burn cause i am a sucker for that.

The clock on the wall, was slowly ticking away. The last time he checked, it was past 1am. Yet he wasn’t wasted. Which was unusual. With a deep sigh, he started singing. A song which he couldn’t recall the name of, but the lyrics were ingrained into him. And as he sung, he listened. But he couldn’t hear it.

What had Jack Morrison meant by saying that there was something with his voice? No matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t hear the unusual about it. Hell, he had even recorded his voice, listened to the track tens of times, yet he didn’t hear anything that immediately distinguished it from others. 

He turned over with a sigh, staring at the dust on the floor. The night had been eerily calm, the vodka still sealed shut and the beer bottles untouched in his refrigerator. 

Amélie had given him one of the most disapproving looks ever, when he came back to the car from the store they had stopped at, his shopping bag full of alcohol. 

It wasn’t like the support group had made him change; he just didn’t feel like drinking today. Especially with Jack Morrison fresh in his mind. 

No matter how it seemed, he didn’t actually have a crush on Jack. There was a big difference between wanting to fuck someone into the next morning, and wanting to wake up with them beside them. And the last one did not seem too attractive at the moment.

Jack had managed to do one thing though; make him feel more unsure than ever about his voice. He had almost dialled Amélie several times, just in order to ask her if there was something wrong with his voice. 

Damn Jack. Managing to get into his head like this. Flopping around one last time, he grabbed for his phone, ready to dial his “friend”. As he held the phone, the screen lit up, but it wasn’t Amélie calling him at 2am. Big letters blinked in front of his face, and he laid there, staring at them. The phone kept buzzing, and the option to not answer didn’t appear. So he just turned it off. He didn’t have the energy to answer _her._ right now. That could wait. 

His unusual mood was gone. Now it was just pure annoyance, because of the bad memories the caller had awakened.

Jumping up from his lying position, he turned towards the cabinet, where he could see the vodka bottle. 

_Not now, friend._

Slowly, but with long steps, he made his way to his small bathroom. Tossing his clothes off into the laundry basket, he stepped into the shower. 

It was absolutely unnecessary, and he was just wasting water, but he just felt like having the water raining over him. To ignore the pressing reality, entering his little nest, that was why he showered. And he knew it. Which only made it worse, as he pressed his knuckles towards the cabinet, gritting his teeth.

There was no need to use soap, since he had already showered earlier that day (wait, it was yesterday wasn’t it? The clock was over twelve), but he gently scrubbed his body with his hands. It was refreshing, yet finally he could feel the want for alcohol coil around his leg like a snake. 

The memories from the day, flashed in front of his closed eyes. Jack Morrison. Gabriel felt a small smile on his lips. Jack had been even more attractive today, than what he had remembered. His strong arms, the well-toned body, and finally, but not lastly, his plump lips. It wasn’t like that Gabriel was disrespecting him, when he thought about fucking him down into a mattress, while stroking his own dick; it was more like a necessity. If he couldn’t think about anything else than Jack, but was still horny, then he had to use the situation to it’s full potential, right?

It didn’t take long, before his orgasm washed over him. He leaned against the shower wall, feeling the rain wash away any evidence of his past activity. His breathing was fast, as he relaxed, enjoying the peaceful feeling. He was done with Jack now; they would probably never meet again. 

 

His back was hurting like hell, as he woke up on the floor. With much cussing, he managed to drag himself up into the couch before he fell asleep once more, ignoring the small flicker of sunlight, escaping through the curtains. 

 

The phone buzzed alive, as he ate cereal. Eating breakfast on the couch became boring in the long run, so he decided he could at least check if the world needed him. When he had finished entering his PIN-code, one message after the other, popped up. The time flashed in front of him. 

15.34

He really needed to wake up earlier.

“What the hell,” he murmured, as he only caught glimpses of what the text messages said. The phone number that had tried to ring him at night kept popping up, telling him that he had missed calls. With great might, he ignored those, and instead went over to check the other stuff.

7 Missed calls from Amélie. 5 Messages. 

The screen flashed white, as he opened the message app, not caring to call her.

**Amélie:** _Need to speak with you. Urgent._

**Amélie:** _Need answer._

**Amélie:** _Answer me, or I will call._

**Amélie:** _Tried calling. Call me up. Important._

**Amélie:** _Need your help._

Curiousness and worry overtook him, and it wasn’t long before he was dialling her. It only took two beeps, before she answered. Her voice was grave.

“I need your help.”

“Hello to you too,” Gabriel mocked, his voice light with humour, but worry underneath it. 

“I don’t have time for that,” she replied. “I need to know if you can help me with this, Gabriel; I need your answer right now.”

“Help with what? Are you in trouble?” 

Nice. Now he was really worried.

“I can’t tell you that, before you agree to help me,” she answered.

“Well, I can’t help you without knowing what the problem is.”

“You will get to know what the problem is, if you agree.”

Annoyance filled him up. He considered resorting to pester her into speaking, but decided against it. Pushing away the stubborn part of him, he answered.

“Yeah, okay, sure, just tell me what it is.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so happy I rewrote everything? 
> 
> Thank you for reading. 
> 
> My tumblr is: heydaddydad

She was clicking her earrings in place, when he entered the bathroom.

“Are you ready soon?” he asked, restless. Gabriel had already waited for an hour, and it had been boring, even though Amélie had a freaking big television. 

“Soon,” she replied. “I would have been faster done, if it wasn’t for that I had to help you cut your hair.” 

He huffed, and automatically dragged his hand over it. It was shorter than it had been, but not too short, since Amélie had not accepted to just shave it all off. Yet, it looked quite stylish, shorter on the sides, and a little longer on the top, but the fact that it would need work to keep it like this, killed some of the enjoyment. 

He continued to watch her, putting on necklaces and fixing her hair. She was really beautiful tonight, with her dark lilac dress. As she finished fixing herself, she walked over to Gabriel. He mockingly put out her arm, like a gentleman, and she gave a small smile, before she took it.

 

 

As usual she was driving. Mostly because he only had drivers license for motorbike, but he knew that she wouldn’t allow him to even plug in the car keys to the sports car she had acquired. It was behind him, how Amélie was so stinking rich. It probably had something to do with the fact that Amélie’s job involved politicians, and that her late husband had quite a sum of money.

“So, this Lena, do you know her well?” Gabriel started, trying to make conversation. 

Amélie snorted.

“No, not at all, we’ve only met at the support group and a few times outside of that.” 

“That explains why she invited you to her freaking birthday party,” his sarcastic remark didn’t earn him any big response from Amélie, except a sigh.

“Lena believes that I am a lonely veteran, who has no one in my life, and she thinks she can fix that,” she explained. “I managed to blurt out that I wasn’t doing anything this weekend, and she took that as an opportunity to invite me to her party. I had planned to cancel it last time we met, but I couldn’t do it, since then she’d only bother me more.”

“And you had to drag me into this too? It was dirty of you to make me worry, and trick me into this too.”

“It was necessary, I have to show her that I do indeed have others in my life.”

Gabriel nodded, and looked out of the window, a small smile on his lips.

“So is this a lie?”

“What?” even though she was surprised at his remark, she still seemed as unperturbed as ever. Only a small change in her voice and expression revealed her.

“Do you like her, and need a wingman?”

That actually earned him a barked laugh.

“If I like her? Lena is like a dog. I hate dogs. And it doesn’t matter anyway, she has a girlfriend.”

“So if she didn’t have a girlfriend, you would have liked her?”

Amélie sent him an ice-cold glare. 

“Try to stay around her for more than five minutes, and you will truly understand.”

He smiled, and slowly the silence enveloped them once more. The streetlights peppering the streets flashed in front of his eyes, and he let his mind wander. Then he remembered.

“Hey, Amélie…” he looked over at her, to see if he had earned her attention, which he had. “If you like, I don’t know, like, if you didn’t know me. You just met me, and we were strangers. Would there be something with my voice that you would react to?”

“No,” her reply was steady, fast. 

“Really? But okay, like, would you recognize it later?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? Can you elaborate?” 

“If I met you a few days after our meeting, then yes, maybe I would have remembered it. You do have a recognizable voice, since it’s so…”

He leaned forward in his seat.

“So what?”

It seemed like she was thinking really intensively about it.

“Dark. Rusty. Different, yet not weird.” 

He huffed. She didn’t ask him why he had asked; she didn’t need to know. 

 

 

After a while, they pulled up into a driveway. It was a really lovely home, just by looking at the outside of the small house. It had to be homely inside, he just knew. Flowers lined up the small stone road leading to the front door, and he could see lights from the garden behind the house. He was just about to open the door, when Amélie opened her mouth.

“There will be alcohol there.” 

He stopped right in the middle of his motion. She didn’t say anything more. She just stared right ahead of her, into the wheel, like there was something worth her attention there. Gabriel sighed and leaned back into his seat.

“I counted on that,” he replied. Silence stretched on, before he broke it, annoyed. “I’ll try not to drink, but I can’t promise you anything.”

She nodded.  
As they walked towards the house, she seemed lighter than before, like one big worry had been swept away from her shoulders. 

 

 

Lena was even more bouncy than he remembered from the support group. When they knocked on the door, she opened it and threw herself around Amélie’s neck, and thanked her for coming. Even though it was awkward to stand beside them and watch their hug, it was rewarding to see how awkward Amélie was. She tried to seem like she was happy, with a fake smile, but the small motions she made to try to push away Lena, was hilarious. 

“I’m so happy that you came!” Lena literally shouted, and Amélie flinched.

“Of course, you invited me,” Amélie said, and Gabriel couldn’t understand how Lena even managed to interact with Amélie. She seemed so fake, yet Lena was unperturbed. 

When Lena finally let go of Amélie, and turned to face Gabriel, she stretched out her arm, and gave him a big smile. He politely shook it.

“I heard Lena was going to bring someone, and I guess that’s you?” her voice was light and cheerful.

“Yeah, I guess that’s me,” he smiled, trying to not seem like he wanted to die every second of him socially interacting with others. 

“Lena Oxton.”

“Gabriel Reyes,” he felt overly aware of his voice. Damn Jack Morrison.

“Gabe, then,” she smiled, and motioned for them to follow her. 

 

 

The house really was as lovely inside, as he had thought. Pictures peppered the walls, and the walls were a light colour. The smell of food hit him straight in the face, and he couldn’t help feeling his mouth watering. As they took of their shoes and jacket, Lena stood there, expectant. Amélie had just taken of her shoes, before she turned her glare over to Gabriel.

“I forgot the present in the car,” she simply stated and threw the keys over to him. She walked past Lena, making Lena look back at Gabriel, before following Amélie and showing her the house. He sighed and went back to get them.

 

 

This was already awkward. It had been calm in the house, even though he had heard voices, and he hated nothing more than dinner parties. Then you were forced to actually speak with others and be social. At _real_ parties, you could just go and hide somewhere and drink. 

When he finally came back inside, and had taken off his shoes (he hated using shoes inside, and he knew Amélie was the same), he proceeded to follow the voices. It didn’t take long, before he found the medium large dining room. It was so horrific. Everything was entirely idealistic, and he honestly couldn’t fathom how someone could live so nice.

He stood in the door opening, as he scanned the people attending the birthday party. There was a woman with long red hair, carrying different pots full of food to the table, so that was probably Lena’s girlfriend. He actually recognized one of them, who was talking with Amélie, Ana. Beside Ana stood an old man, probably around his sixties. There was a few others too, but suddenly he couldn’t see them, notice anyone else, than the blonde man, sitting there, casually sipping from a beer. 

His body froze to ice, yet magma was flowing through his veins. Jack Morrison, without his stupid sunglasses, was sitting there, with his eyes closed, looking like a fucking dream, and all Gabriel could think was that he was beautiful. Simply beautiful. He almost didn’t notice it, when Amélie slipped up beside him, and grabbed the flowers. She looked at him questioning, and he tried to look normal, to calm down the blush entering his entire face, but it was almost impossible. 

Suddenly, the old man (who by the way was _large_ ), was standing in front of him, blocking his view. Gabriel didn’t understand that he was talking to him, until he saw his mouth move. 

“Excuse me?” Gabriel said, looking like an idiot. The man seemed puzzled by his behaviour, but broke out a big smile. 

“I said, I haven’t seen you here before. Are you a new friend of Lena’s?” 

Gabriel shook his head, probably more than normal, but his head was still floating after seeing Jack.

“Oh, I am here with Amélie over there,” he said with a sweaty smile and pointed. “I actually just met Lena.”

The other man roared with laughter, and Gabriel almost jumped in surprise to the outbreak.

“That is so typical Lena! God, I love that girl. She always tries to make place for everyone, even though their table is way to small. I had to help her and Emily fetch another one for the occasion, since they invited more than they had had in mind,” he folded his arms, looking like one big bunt of muscle. Gabriel had never felt so small.

”Really?” he squawked, trying to seem interested. 

“Yeah, usually they have quite a small table. It is always problematic when I visit, because of my size. But I can’t stay away, you know? Emily is my niece, and I can’t help wanting to visit her and Lena, they’re so wonderful.”

Gabriel was happy that the other man was so talkative, but he somewhat wanted to just crawl down into a hole and die. 

“You don’t live around here?” he tried to give back in the small talk, and not be completely awkward. Inside his head he cursed himself for being this way, when before, he could talk to complete strangers for hours without problems. 

“Oh no, I am from Germany. I travel a lot with my job though, so I have the opportunity to visit them once in a while, and-“

Lena broke him off.

“So I just received a call from Hana, and she told me she couldn’t make it,” she earned a few _aww_ from around the room, before she continued. “And Emily just took the steak out of the oven, so we can eat now if you all want to? And, oh, Amélie, I fixed vegetarian to you, so you don’t have to worry!”

Vegetarian? Amélie ate meat, didn’t she? Gabriel looked over to Amélie, and he had never seen her look so awkward and simply _painful._

“Guess, we will have to sit down, then?” The old man, who still hadn’t introduced himself said, and clapped Gabriel on the back. Gabriel prayed, and he had never hoped for something so intensely before, than not to be seated close to Jack Morrison. And for once, God actually listened to him. Sitting on the entirely opposite side of the table, he dragged his hand through his hair. Amélie had tried to sit down beside him, before the ridiculous big man had captured her seat. 

It was nice, and also extremely unnerving to be there. The conversation went over the table casually and playfully, before the red headed lady sat down a big steak on the table.

“It looks delicious, Emily,” the big man said, and smiled towards her. Gabriel silently noted that he had been right about her being the girlfriend of the host. 

His gaze went over to Jack, and he was sure he was about to collapse. Jack hadn’t looked at him once. Maybe because he was blind. Did he even know that Gabriel was there? Maybe he could pass under the covers, and avoid Jack recognizing him. 

“Have all of you even met?” Lena broke out during the conversation, that Ana, the old man, and Emily had been carrying. A small laughter (as small as his laughter could get) left the big man. “Maybe we should just do a name round, since I know that you Amélie don’t know everyone here, and not you either, Gabe.”

Amélie didn’t reply, she just sat there, not a word leaving her. Before it could get awkward and stiff, Gabriel spoke.

“No, but I know a few of you,” he tried smiling, which came out as pathetic. Then his heart almost jumped out of his throat. Jack, who had been sitting there with a peaceful expression, turned his head towards him, and suddenly did not look like he was having a good time. Fuck. At least he knew that Jack knew that he was there and did not like him, if he was going to judge by his expression. 

“Well, I can just introduce everyone then? Well, this is Gabe, or Gabriel,” she gestured towards him, as she sat. Or she was not sitting. She was almost up on the table, leaning with her entire body up on it. Emily grabbed her shirt, and pulled her softly down into her chair again. He could already see who was the calmer one in their relationship. “This is Emily’s uncle, Reinhardt.”

Finally he knew what the old man’s name was. 

“This is Amélie, I’ve known her for a while, and we have actually worked together a few times, and yeah, this is me,” she laughed, and then continued the introduction round. When she had mentioned Amélie’s name, she had looked like she was about to throw up.

“This is Jack Morrison, and I don’t think you have met Reinhardt or Gabriel have you-“

“No, I don’t believe I have met Reinhardt, but I am pretty sure I’ve met Gabriel twice now, if you can count walking into a blind person, then telling them to watch their step as _meeting._ ”

It was entirely silent. Everyone was simply gaping at Jack, after his remark, and Gabriel could feel every colour in his face flush away, before it was replaced by burning shame. 

Lena cleared her throat, before she simply ignored him and continued. Gabriel didn’t really hear anything she said, just simply staring at Jack, feeling anger burn in his chest. Ana, tried to reply Lena as Lena spoke, but her attention was bolted onto Jack. An expression of utter confusion shined from her face. 

As time passed, the awkwardness vanished from the table, except every time Gabriel said anything. Because each time, Jack would reply with a snide remark, making everyone uncomfortable. But impressively, everyone managed to ignore those remarks. Gabriel continued to try and be polite and social, but it was hard with Jack acting so foul.

How could Lena be friends with someone so sour? They were the complete opposites of each other, even worse than him and Amélie. He knew he had acted like a shit, but damn, this was overkill. He had never in his life experienced someone so petty.

After a while, Jack suddenly got up and told he was going to fetch another beer. Lena tried to offer to go and get it, but he just shushed her away, and walked very tentatively towards the separate kitchen. 

Gabriel was never a man to shy away from conflict. That was why he got up, and followed after Jack into the kitchen. He barely noticed how everyone around the table seemed to tense up and stare after his back, while he made his way to the kitchen. 

When he entered, he saw Jack opening the refrigerator, and with a soft touch, searched for the beer. 

Just as Jack removed the beer from the refrigerator, Gabriel smacked the door shut. A small shout of surprise left Jack, and his eyes opened wide. And, damn, wasn’t that the prettiest eyes he had ever seen? Long eyelashes and blue clear irises. 

“We need to talk,” Gabriel said. Jack huffed.

“I don’t believe so,” he said, and tried to make his way past Gabriel, before Gabriel stopped him with his arm. Jack turned his head away, annoyance apparent in his entire stance.

“I’m sorry.”

They stood there in silence, and Gabriel wondered if apologizing had been a bad idea.

“Wow, so finally you taught yourself some manners,” Jack mocked. Okay. Definitely a bad move. 

“Woooho, boy, are you really going to act like some sort of piss ant? I apologized and you decide to act like a shit back?”  


“Well, you know, I tried being polite in the beginning, but you decided to act like a piss ant yourself,” Jack snarled, and was about to make his way back out again, when Gabriel stopped him once more. 

“Do you really think that you have a right to act like this? Is this some built up rage since you are blind or something?” Gabriel was aware of how mocking and cold his voice had become. Jack’s hands clenched together, the rage apparent, but Gabriel continued.

“You know you are fucking up Lena’s birthday party? No, stop, don’t try to say anything, let me finish. Even I who don’t know her, knows that you are hurting her. Every time you say something, she looks more uncomfortable than someone who’s watching a sex tape of their own parents. If you’re going to act like some pitiful hero, then maybe, you should start considering the ones around you. Cause if I were them, I would not tolerate your behaviour, which is far worse than my little fuck up. So we can continue fighting like this, and maybe you’ll get your hands on my throat, which you would probably like, and hurt your friends even more, or we could actually act like adults. It’s all up to you, _perro_.” 

Jack looked taken aback. No he didn’t _look_ taken aback, he _was_ taken aback. For a few seconds, Gabriel thought Jack would actually try to jump him, and kill him. But Jack seemed to relax more and more, before he cleared his throat, and spoke. 

“Well, the last one sounds the best, don’t you think?” 

Victory bloomed in Gabriel’s chest.

“I can actually agree on that.”

 

 

The evening went by, and it turned out to be enjoyable. Jack quit trying to be a smartass, and Lena seemed relieved. Yet, Jack was a lot more silent than before, still looking taken aback. Ana kept fuzzing over Jack, while Jack kept waving her away. Gabriel wasn’t sure about their relationship, and he hated that he wondered, but it seemed to maybe be more than friendship. But he was over being blinded by Jack’s hotness, and he couldn’t care less about his relationships or life. 

What he was most surprised at, by the end of the night, was how he had managed to avoid alcohol the entire night. 

When they had spoken for hours, simply enjoying the talk, Amélie got up and excused them. She said she had work tomorrow, and that Gabriel was driving with her. The others also got up, Reinhardt saying that he too should head home, meanwhile Ana was just being polite and saying goodbye.

Just as Gabriel turned around to walk away, Jack spoke to him.

“Hey.”

He turned around, and faced Jack, who had gotten up from his chair. He halfway expected Jack to be sassy and try to start up their fight once more, but instead Jack just stretched out his hand. It was almost like déjà vu, to earlier that evening with Lena. To be honest, he was tired of Jack. Yes, he was hot, he looked like a God, but that didn’t make up for his shit attitude. 

“I don’t think we greeted properly, and if we’re trying to finally act like adults, then maybe we should?” he smiled. 

Gabriel stared at him for a short while, before he huffed out a laugh, and grabbed his hand.

“Gabriel Reyes.”

“Jack Morrison.” 

Just as soon as their hands touched, they let go, and Gabriel turned around to leave. He didn’t notice the small blush creeping up Jack’s face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A NEW CHAPTER!!!!!  
> This chapter was a joy to write, since I absolutely love writing conversation between Tracer and Widowmaker. It's the best.  
> The fic may seem really calm and not dramatic at the moment, but this will change. The next chapters will contain items that may be VERY triggering. I will also put on trigger warning for this chapter, since here on and out, it will get a little bit darker. But there will be some gay dudes trying to find out of things with each other ;)  
> In the beginning of writing this fic, I hadn't planned really much. I only had an outline. But now the story has gotten a lot more complex, and there will be backstory. 
> 
> I would never have gotten this far without everyone's support. You're the best!
> 
> My tumblr is: heydaddydad  
> If you want to talk, just message me! 
> 
> //TRIGGER WARNINGS//  
> Suicide implication (I'm not sure anyone will even catch the implication, but this will get worse out in the fic.)

_“You did this.”_

 

Gabriel sat up in shock, the bloodied faces of his friends clear in his memory. His breathing was harsh, and his eyes frantically searched over the plain room. Every alarm was blaring in his head, as he didn’t recognize the place, telling him to get the others in safety. But there was no one else, except Amélie who was sleeping peacefully beside him.

Sunshine played over her face, making her seem even more pale than usual. Even in sleep, she looked worried. The covet had been pulled down, revealing her shoulders and breasts, but it didn’t seem to bother her. 

He stared at her sleeping form, looking at how her hair snaked its way around her pillow. His mouth was dry, but he made no motion to move. 

A dream. He was at Amélie’s place. Why was he here? Suddenly the memories from the night before came raining down, and he realized that he wasn’t captured by the enemy, staring at his love’s weakened form, but in his friend’s bedroom. 

They had gone to her place after the party, planning to just simply talk, since they both had been in a friendly mood yesterday. But as they entered the driveway, they had both agreed to just go and sleep in her bed. The days from their service in the army had removed the shyness of seeing each other naked, so Amélie had stripped off all her clothing before they fell asleep.

There was a sickness deep down into his guts, the memories of his days in the army burning fresh in his mind. 

He almost fell out of the bed, as he hurried. While he pulled on his pants, he knocked down a lamp standing on the nightstand. Without even caring to put it back into its place, he got up and headed for the door. 

 

 

He heard her footsteps behind him, as he was trying to tie his shoes. Even that simple task was hard, because of the shaking in his hands. God, he hated this. 

“Are you leaving?”

Her voice was emotionless as ever.

“No, I’m just putting on my shoes for fun,” he answered sarcastically, turning his head away from Amélie, so she wouldn’t see the struggle on his face. 

“Did you have a nightmare?” he heard her relaxed form come closer, and when her cold hand finally fell upon his shoulder, he had to fight for real to keep back the raging emotions inside of him. She had put on a bathrobe, the edges of the fabric caressing his shoulder together with her hand. 

Not trusting his voice, he nodded.

“About them?”

Once more he nodded, and pushed his fingers to the corners of his eyes, trying to stop the burning sensation. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here?” her voice was low, almost on the edge of caring.

“To be honest, I just want to go home and drown myself in alcohol, which probably is no surprise to you,” he laughed, finishing tying his shoes. He didn’t need to look at her, to know that she was displeased with his answer. She didn’t remove her hand, and he sat there, silent, the weak feeling of physical contact through clothes.

“Jessie doesn’t blame you, Gabriel.”

For a second he considered hitting her hand away, and push her fragile body against the wall, before closing his fingers around her throat. Shutting that pretty mouth of hers, speaking of things she would never understand. Anger was always the easiest solution, yet also the most difficult one. 

“Amélie, I know what you are doing. I know why you tricked me into joining the party, and socialising. And I just want to tell you that I don’t need help, I can handle this myself,” he started, and she tried to break him off, but he continued. “I’m an adult, and I need to head home now. My head hurts, and I won’t bother you with asking you to drive me home, so I guess I’ll see you later. Bye, Amélie.”

“You can’t run away from this, Gabriel,” she started, but he was already opening the door, ignoring her. He hadn’t heard the small knock on the door, and the low voices outside, so he opened it up with the usual force. Which was a mistake. Because as he smacked it open, he could feel the door hitting _something_ , and knocking it pretty hard. Which was followed by a small shriek and a shout of surprise. 

His eyes were as plates and Amélie ran to his side, to get outside, to see what had happened. 

Lena was sitting on the ground, blood dripping down from her nose, tears welling up in her eyes, while Jack Morrison (why the hell were they here, especially _him_?) stood there with an expression of total shock and confusion. 

“What the hell,” Gabriel muttered, as he stared at Lena who was crying for real now. Her nose looked like shit. “Oh my god, Lena, I am so sorry.”

Amélie pushed Gabriel away, and made her way over to Lena, which at first made him believe that she was going to help her. But she was not. She just wanted to assess the damage, before she stepped away from the crying woman. 

“My nose,” Lena cried, while blood started to soak into her shirt. Jack was still standing there like a total idiot, trying to understand the situation, just through his hearing. “I think it’s broken.”

“It is not, it’s just a little bloody,” Gabriel stated, which earned him an annoyed look from Lena.

“What are you doing here?” Amélie said, who seemed totally bored by the situation.

“My nose is fucking broken, and you ask me what I am doing here? Can I at least get some paper, before I have to answer?” Never before had Gabriel heard Lena sound so surprised and hurt. Amélie sighed, an annoyed look passing over her face.

“I won’t carry you, if that was what you were hoping for.”

 

 

They were situated around Amélie’s dinner table, blood soaked napkins strewn everywhere. Amélie had removed her tablecloth, and given severe instructions about not dirtying any of the furniture with blood. Gabriel had considered leaving, but his manners had turned around in their grave, forcing him to stay. It wasn’t only that he was polite, he was also genuinely interested in knowing why they were there.

He had apologized, and Lena had accepted it, but he had a small feeling that he wasn’t entirely forgiven yet. He looked over at Jack who was wearing sportswear and sunglasses. Jack looked really worried, but calmer than before, and he was more silent than usual (not that Gabriel really knew that douchebag). 

Gabriel and Amélie hadn’t talked to each other after the _guests_ had arrived, not more than her giving him small commandoes on getting things, and there was a grave silence between the two of them, yet he continued to ignore it. He was tired of Amélie butting into every part of his life, and believing that she knew everything that he felt. Which she did not, even though she was probably the closest friend he currently had.

“So why are you here?” Lena gave Amélie an ugly glare, and continued to push the napkin to her nose, which Amélie simply ignored.

“We were out jogging, and I was planning to ask if you wanted to come eat with us today,” she said, and her eyes flickered over to Gabriel and back to Amélie. “Though I remembered that you supposedly had work today, but I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to check if you had left for work.” 

“I called it off, since Gabriel slept here and I didn’t want to wake him,” she said, and it was way too apparent that she was lying. Gabriel bit his lip, annoyed at the hint of fight between the two ladies. Now he could really use a drink, or two, or just a gun. 

“Sure,” Lena’s voice was cold, and Gabriel was shocked at how angry she could be. In the beginning he had thought she was just happiness and smile, but it was clear that she was very easy to hurt. 

“No,” Amélie suddenly stated, before she walked over to the kitchen counter, pushing buttons on her coffee machine.

“No?” Lena said, turning after her in the chair.

“Dinner. No.”

The hurt look on Lena’s face multiplied by ten. 

“Why not?” she asked, not hiding the sad tones in her voice.

“Because I am busy,” Amélie shrugged, and the coffee machine buzzed as it started pouring out hot coffee. 

“With what?” Lena wasn’t giving up. Gabriel massaged his forehead as he listened to the exchange. 

“With things,” Amélie grabbed the cup and lifted it up to her lips. She crossed her long clean-shaven legs as she leaned back at the kitchen counter, looking like a model. Lena’s face turned into a pout.

“You’re unnecessarily mean all the time, you know?” Lena turned around from Amélie and looked down at the bloodied napkins. She unconsciously started picking at the paper, trying to find a distraction from Amélie. Amélie didn’t answer; she just huffed and continued drinking her coffee. 

Gabriel felt his stomach clench as he looked at Lena’s sad expression. 

“Don’t worry, Lena,” everyone’s eyes flew over to him. He cleared his throat. “Amélie is in fact busy today, and she can’t say what she’s going to do, because well, it’s very personal and secret.”

He felt like shit for joining the lie, but when he saw Amélie’s thankful eyes, he thought it would be okay. Even so, what the victim didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Lena furrowed her brows, but nodded. 

“I understand,” she murmured, and removed the napkin from her nose. The flow blood had stopped momentarily.

“Well, didn’t you buy extra food in case someone wanted to dine with us?” Jack said, his voice husky. Now everyone was watching him, because of his entirely unexpected attribute to the conversation. “Maybe Gabriel can join then, if he isn’t busy?”

Gabriel was sure he was having a stroke, or was still dreaming. Jack Morrison, the shitty hot dude, actually tried to seem a little bit nice. What a surprise. 

“Well, if he wants to, then I don’t have any objection to that,” Lena shrugged, but it was apparent that it wasn’t Gabriel who she wanted to have over. 

Everyone’s eyes were on him now. He regretted that he cared to defend Amélie, seeing how he managed to drag himself down into the problem too. He could say no. He could. But he felt a sense of responsibility for Lena’s sadness, since it was him who smacked her in the face with a door. Not that he could replace Amélie, but two rejections in a day was a little bit harsh.

“It’ll be a BBQ,” Jack said (hopefully? Gabriel wasn’t sure). 

“Okay, sure, I’ll join,” Gabriel gave in and sighed. Lena didn’t seem any happier by the news, as she was just staring at Amélie with a glare that could only be compared to a wet cat, but Jack seemed enlightened. 

“Nice, it’ll be at Lena and Emily’s place, at around-“

“Can you please leave my home now?” Amélie broke in, earning a displeased look from everyone.

Lena was up from her chair in a second, holding her head high. She marched towards the door, still wearing her shoes. Jack perched up at the sound, and barked after her to wait, so he could find his way out too. Gabriel followed them to the door, since Amélie didn’t care. A small sense of responsibility for their visit filled him.

Before they vanished out the door, Jack turned around and cleared his throat. Gabriel lifted an eyebrow. 

“What?” he said, low key aware of the displeased tone his voice suddenly had. He really had to become more polite.

“If you give me your phone number, then I could give you the information you need for later tonight?” Jack said, and did he seem kind of awkward? Must be something Gabriel was imagining. 

“Ok, what’s your number?” Gabriel said as he fished up his phone from the pocket at his jeans. Then suddenly something confused him. “Can you use a phone? I mean, well, since you’re blind?” 

Jack looked ten years older when he finished asking his question.

“Do you really think that I would ask for your number if I couldn’t use a fucking phone? Blind people can actually exist in the current society, which probably is a big surprise to you.”

Now Gabriel remembered why he didn’t like talking to Jack Morrison. 

“Just tell me the number,” he muttered. His home screen was littered with missed calls, and he clicked onto contacts. When Jack had repeated his number to him a few times, he quickly sent a text with his name on it. “Now you have my number. Just text me if there’s something I need to bring, or something. And when it is.” 

Jack nodded, as Lena shouted after him impatiently. He closed the door as they vanished out on the street, Lena trying to ignore the blood that had started to flow down from her nose once more, and Jack trying to ignore the blush on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //WARNING!!//  
> NSFW. No more to say. I had problems writing it, because I got so embarrassed. I am weak.
> 
> Warning for that suicide mentions are becoming more prominent in this chapter. 
> 
> but
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy the chapter!! The next chapter is also almost finished.... just gotta write the ending.
> 
> This chapter is mostly a filler chapter, which is why I used so long on it (since I couldn't get 1000% happy with it). But if you're worried that this fic isn't so gay..... the next chapter :) it will be gay :) very gay :)
> 
> my tumblr is: heydaddydad
> 
> Thanks for all the support!!!!

The younger man moaned as Gabriel pushed his slicked finger inside of him. He was trying to hold onto the sheets as Gabriel slowly fucked his finger deeper inside of him, peppering him with slow kisses that travelled up his neck. With nothing to hold onto, the other man tried to hold around Gabriel, their naked bodies pressed up against each other. 

He had to smile, when he saw what he could do to the other man. With a smooth motion, he inserted another finger, earning another loud moan. The blonde’s nails scratched Gabriel’s back, marking him. It was as if toxic was fleeting through his blood, making the time go slower and multiplying every feeling. 

“Gabriel…” the other man almost pleaded, trying to touch, but Gabriel caught his hand and brought it down. 

“I got you,” he whispered, before straightened his back, and positioning himself. His eyes fell down on the other male, eyes hooded. Jack’s eyes were teary from pleasure, begging him to fuck him. The invitation was too clear, and Gabriel let his dick push against the other man,

_wait._

Jack. Jack Morrison.

Gabriel’s eyes snapped open, as he lay on the couch in his small apartment, with the most raging boner he ever had. Usually he would have been depressed by such a dream, but the realization at the ending, had only left him with a deep feeling of being fucked. Not fucked in _that_ way, but fucked with that he was having wet dreams about Jack, as if he was still a teenager, horny for the boy next door. This was bad.

He considered doing something with his dick screaming for attention, when he suddenly got the impulse to check his phone. He was sure there was something he was forgetting. The phone lighted up, and he squinted.

_16.30_

Oh. He was indeed forgetting about something. 

The barbeque. 

 

 

When Emily opened the door, she looked super disappointed. His breathing was hard, and he tried to offer her an apologetic smile, but he only felt nasty. He hated running, and especially running from the bus station in order to not be late.

“I am sorry.”

“You’re half an hour too late,” she sighed, before she moved back and let him enter the house. “But I am not going to blame you, since I have been late way too many times to complain about others now.”

When he leaned down to take off his shoes, she quickly stopped him and told him to just wear them. 

“We’re sitting outside anyway, so it’s not necessary.”

There was a delicious smell throughout the house, and Gabriel could feel his mouth water. For once he was hungry. Probably since he couldn’t remember eating, since the last time he was here.

Luckily, Emily was courteous and made small talk as they walked through the house. He felt sorry for them, since they were having a person they had just met yesterday over again, especially when that person was _him_. But when this was done, they wouldn’t need to bother with having him in their life anymore, since they probably wouldn’t want to invite him anymore. Which was no problem for him. He understood it all well, and he would probably have done the same if he were one of them. 

When they walked out the big door to the veranda, Gabriel almost shrieked in surprise as Reinhardt jumped up and greeted him.

“Gabriel! Didn’t think I’d see you again! What a pleasure,” Reinhardt boomed, catching Gabriel’s palm and shaking it. On instinct, Gabriel snatched his hand back and took a step backwards. Suddenly it got all too awkward; he could see Reinhardt’s confused look and Lena’s curious (and gosh, her nose) face paired with a surprised Emily. 

“I’m sorry, took me by surprise,” Gabriel murmured, before he reached his hand out once more. Reinhardt quickly recovered.

“No, I am sorry, it was wrong of me, I should have been a little bit more careful,” the older man apologized and shook Gabriel’s hand once more. “It isn’t easy to readjust to civilian life after being in the military.”

Gabriel froze. 

“That is no problem, don’t just assume things. Even so, how did you know that I had been in the army?” he was aware that he sounded like he was angry. But he wasn’t. Not yet. The answer would decide that. 

Now it was entirely apparent that Reinhardt noticed that he had done something wrong, but he tried to seem as neutral as possible. 

“I heard from Emily that you had been in the army, though I didn’t hear any details. In fact, I also served my country, when I was younger. Was there two years,” Reinhardt tried his hardest to drag the conversation into safe waters, but Gabriel was staring at Lena. Now he didn’t feel bad for breaking her nose.

“Uncle, can’t you tell us about the time your outpost started burning? I absolutely adore that story,” Emily smiled. “You two can sit down in the couch with Jack, since the chairs are so horrible.”

It was hot. Sweaty. Nasty. Gabriel tried to make himself as small as possible, as he sat squeezed between Reinhardt and Jack Morrison. He kind of hated Lena and Emily at that moment, because of them telling folk things they shouldn’t know and for seating him there. 

He wondered if it was some sort of revenge from Lena. Her usual pointy nose was full of bandages, with a small bluish tint around the edges. He definitely had broken it, but it wasn’t his fault that she was such an idiot to stand so close to a door. 

But the worst part was sitting so close to Jack, right after having the most detailed wet dream he ever had had, that had been about _him_. He hated himself for it, but he couldn’t help stealing a few glances over at the bastard with the ridiculous sunglasses and khaki shorts. 

“You’re lucky we waited Gabriel, otherwise we would have finished the meal already,” Emily said, as she strolled out onto the veranda, her arms filled with bowls of salad and different side dishes. The sun hit her hair in a way that made it look like fire.

Gabriel was about to answer, when someone else gripped the chance.

“Yeah, he is, I can’t understand how someone manages to be half an hour too late for a meal,” Jack stated, just as pissy as usual. 

“Well, I can’t help that I fell asleep when I got home from Amélie,” he bit back to Jack. 

They both seemed to be in a bad mood, but at least Gabriel had a reason for it. It hadn’t taken him two minutes to find out that Lena told absolutely everyone she knew that he had been in the army, which was something he didn’t like that people knew. It only made them ask more questions; where had he been? Had he ever killed someone? Was he important? People tend to forget that you don’t want to answer the second question, if you indeed have done it.

“Ever heard about the alarm function on phones?” 

“Oh, shut up, what the hell is wrong with you?” Gabriel swore and turned towards Jack. 

He had to rest his arm on the top of the sofa, in order to turn around. 

“What is wrong with me?”

“Yeah, you act like you’re fucking Gucci, but guess what, white-boy, you ain’t so fucking much.”

Jack was about to open his mouth to reply, when Emily slammed a plastic bowl down onto the table.  
“God, can you two stop acting like two year olds? I thought you fixed up last night,” Emily was standing tall, like a general speaking to her soldiers, demanding authority. Everyone had crouched together in fear and awe, shocked at her display. 

“I know that you don’t want to be here Gabriel, and Jack, you have to stop getting offended at literally everything. So try to be nice to each other, cause we are going to have a wonderful barbeque, with my uncle, who’s travelling tomorrow morning. So just fix your shit, since neither of you are leaving, even if you start strangling each other.”

It was silent for a few moments, where Gabriel and Jack just sat there, contemplating what Emily had just said. Until Gabriel broke the silence.

“I don’t know if you did it one purpose, but that part about strangling was a little bit kinky,” Gabriel said tryingly. Lena laughed as she plumped down into one of the chairs.

“Wow, Gabe, I think we just learnt a whole deal about you right now,” her perfect white teeth forming a big smile. 

“The fact that you’re smiling like that, makes me worried for my niece,” Reinhardt joined in and earned laughter from all of them. Except Jack, who only smiled a little bit, still looking like he was thinking it all through. 

They started eating and continued the small talk coupled with jokes. It was still a bit awkward after the small fight between, like, all of them. But it got easier soon, and a good vibe settled over them. It wasn’t like it had helped on the want to die, but it did ease it a little bit, in Gabriel’s opinion. Because he was still highly aware of the way Jack’s hands looked as he cut the meat into smaller pieces, and how his mouth kissed the glass in a soft manner, as he drank water. 

“Gabe? Back to earth, Gabe?” Gabriel was pulled out of his daydreaming, when Lena stood in the door opening, waiting for him to answer something.

“What?” 

“Do you want something else to drink than water? We have beer, if you want some?”

It was easier to say no when someone he knew really well was there. Like, when Amélie had been there, he had no problem with saying no, since she would help him. But now he was on his own. And he hadn’t drunk anything in two days, which was eating on his nerves. 

He hated himself.

“Yeah, thanks, that would be great,” he smiled, yet feeling dread inside of him. He was stupid. He just needed to say no. But he couldn’t. 

“I’ll be back in a moment,” she smiled, vanishing into the house. 

When she returned with beers for everyone, the time suddenly went a lot faster. 

With the alcohol, they suddenly became a lot more comfortable, jokes being exchanged, light chatter. Even Jack lightened up. Gabriel became highly aware that Jack’s leg touched his as he leant forward in order to join the conversation. But Jack was holy ground, or to be more precise, taken. 

He was quite sure he and Ana was an item, and that he probably would make him uncomfortable if he tried to make a move. Which was stupid, because he shouldn’t even be thinking those thoughts, since Jack was probably straight and Gabriel wasn’t a mindless creature, falling for rude people. He had standards. 

Yet he enjoyed the feel of the other man, casually putting his arm on the back of the sofa, giving himself the opportunity to feel that something could actually happen.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah dha hah ahhhh
> 
> my tumblr is: heydaddydad
> 
> do people say keen in english, like i cant come up with a substitute for that word

”Uncle, I ask you.”  


Her voice was dark, mysterious, making the atmosphere static. Her red hair curled around her face, which looked like fire, with the flickering lights from the candles playing over it. Gabriel took a small sip from his beer, as he watched Emily’s small performance. 

“Truth or dare?” 

Everyone’s eyes went over to Reinhardt, who looked like he was facing the hardest decision in his life ever. Laughter left Lena, who was trying her best to be serious, but failed miserably at. Her nose had managed to look even worse than earlier that day, and Gabriel knew that he had been wrong about how bad it was. It was definitely broken.

With a great sigh, Reinhardt answered.

“Dare.”

Everyone shouted in surprise and happiness, giving him small claps on the back. The only one sitting silently and listening was Jack. 

“Well, you have to drink a beer in less than seven seconds,” she smiled playfully, supposedly enjoying the way Reinhardt massaged his forehead.

“Well, that wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Everything is always about alcohol here, isn’t it?” joked Reinhardt, gaining a dramatic inhale from Emily. 

“I cannot believe that you are accusing us of being alcoholics, uncle,” she laughed. “Even so, I not so keen on asking you to run around the streets naked or something, when we’re related.”

Gabriel felt his throat constrict. He wasn’t an alcoholic, he shouldn’t feel this vulnerable. He could quit whenever he wanted. At least he hoped so. 

Reinhardt took one of the beers, as Lena fixed the timer on her phone. They were all shouting as he drank it, voices loud and festive. Gabriel couldn’t believe he had thought this would be boring. 

Reinhardt managed it, and they all gave a small applause. The door to the garden was standing agape, letting the sound of the grasshoppers enter the room. Gabriel was distantly aware that he said something, but the alcohol was creating a nice buzz in his blood. He was laughing. This was beyond nice.

Reinhardt quickly loosened his tie, before he cleared his throat.

“Who should I ask?” his eyes swept over the small company. The tricky part was being too kind and playing this game.

“Just ask someone,” Emily rolled her eyes. Gabriel laughed, it was way to apparent what the alcohol was doing to her. He had thought she was the silent type, but give her a beer or two, and she was like a jukebox. 

“Well then, Jack, truth or dare?” Reinhardt asked, his voice gruff. He was holding quite well against the alcohol, only revealed by the way his cheeks were tinted red. 

“Truth, I guess,” Jack shrugged, and dragged his hand through his hair. The candlelight flickered over his face, and Gabriel had to stop himself from fawning over him. Even though his personality was so shit, he was still handsome as hell. There was a small silence as Reinhardt sat there, thinking really hard. Until he just simply gave up.

“God, uncle, you really are bad at this game,” Lena said, her British accent slurring a little. “I actually have a question I’ve wondered about, so…”

“Just go ahead,” accepting her proposition of asking the question for him. Lena’s eyes got an evil glint, and she put her weight on the table, in order to lean closer to her subject.

“Is it true that you and Ana have fucked?” 

Jack managed to swallow his drink wrong, and sat coughing for a small while, before he looked up at them with teary eyes and an incredulous expression.

“No, of course not? What makes you think that?”

Gabriel felt a small spark of hope and relief, and he hated himself for feeling that. Stupid alcohol, stupid feelings, making him believe he had a chance at shagging the handsome blonde.

“Well, you are awfully close to each other,” Lena shrugged, trying to play coy. 

“That is the straightest assumption I have ever heard from a gay person, Lena,” Gabriel laughed, rubbing his face. Lena gave him an ugly look, before she straightened her back like a cat, trying to seem unaffected by it.

“I was just wondering, but thank you Jack, now I finally got my answer, and Gabriel, you really shouldn’t complain about someone acting straight, when you’re straight yourself.”

Gabriel just laughed even more at her remark, the alcohol in him stopping him from thinking really far.

“Wow, I didn’t know I was straight, that explains why I’ve always watched gay porn,” as he leaned backwards in his chair, he took a deep sip from his beer. Everyone around the table suddenly looked very intrigued. Jack had a look of deep shock, and relief (?). 

“Wait, aren’t you and Amélie together?” 

Now it was his turn to swallow the beer the wrong way. 

“What? No? We’re only friends?” 

“But, you slept over at her place,” Lena stuttered, taken aback by her wrong assumption. 

“Yeah, but you know that girls and boys can be friends, right? God, Lena, why are you acting so straight,” he laughed, aware that Jack joined laughing. He tried to ignore how close their chairs were. A red shade had taken hold of Lena’s face, and Emily smiled when she saw the embarrassment on her girlfriend’s face.

“Okay, come on guys, let’s progress with the game,” Emily pushed on, the hunger for drama all over her.

Jack sighed, before he spoke.

“I guess I’ll ask you Gabriel, truth or dare?” 

“Eh, truth?” he answered, not caring really about which option he chose. 

Jack sat there, thinking really hard with flickering lights dancing over his face, before he asked.

“If you could go on the vacation from your dreams, who would you go with and where-“

“Are you serious? Your questions are more boring than Reinhardt’s, and he didn’t even ask,” Emily interrupted. 

“Well, at least I don’t ask people if they have fucked their best friend,” Jack retorted and earned a laugh from Gabriel. 

“Whoa there, I am sorry I’m curious!” Lena shouted in-between the laughter. 

“Ask something exciting, Jack, or you have to leave,” Jack’s laugh was loud, as he ignored the threat from Emily. 

Jack rubbed his neck, before he turned somewhat towards Gabriel.

“Who was your first kiss?”

Once more there was booing, this time from Emily.

“Jack, nobody cares about who his first kiss was, Gabriel, ignore jack’s question and answer mine instead,” her red curls were jumping up and down as she spoke. “If you had to fuck a person in this room, who would you fuck?”

Gabriel tried to calm the panic that unfolded in his chest, and tried to find a way to escape the question. 

“Emily, I am gay, you are literally giving me a choice between saying I’d fuck your uncle or Jack,” everyone’s laughter sounded throughout the room. 

“And you complained about Jack’s questions,” Reinhardt boomed, and gave a small pat on Emily’s shoulder, who was currently having a laughing fit for no real reason.

“Oh, shut up everyone, and Gabriel, answer,” Lena said. “I am really curious now actually, I feel like you are revealing an important part of yourself right now.”

Gabriel couldn’t stop laughing or the small blush blooming in his face.

“I’d have to say Jack, since I am not so keen on men above my age.”

Reinhardt shrugged and smiled, while Emily said, “that’s so gay.”

Gabriel tried to avoid looking at Jack, even though the other man couldn’t see the redness on his ears.

 

 

“Then he, like, he totally stopped speaking to me. And I don’t know if it’s my fault, or if something else happened, but he doesn’t even answer my messages, and,” Emily sobbed, a paper towel in her hand. Lena was patting her back, while everyone carefully listened.

While being at this party, Gabriel had learned that Emily had three stages of being drunk:

Number one; becoming really sociable, fun and somehow the perfect squad leader. 

The second one was having laughing fits for no reason, and making gay jokes every third second.

The last one was becoming the biggest cry baby ever. 

Guess which stage she was at right now. 

This party had become a pain in the ass, during such a short span of time. He couldn’t even recall how they entered this boring subject about how bad Emily had it. Boohoo. White people problems. And the worst part about all of this, was the fact that the others cared so fucking much. 

Luckily he had his beer by his side, and the sweet buzz of alcohol. Buzz and buzz. More like someone had cut of all supply of rational thoughts from his head, leaving him as an annoyed shell. 

“Have you met him? After he stopped speaking to you?” Gabriel asked, inwardly sighing. Hopefully if he acted like he cared, she would stop crying. He had almost finished his beer, and if things didn’t get better, he probably wouldn’t get another one. 

“No, he lives in another city, so I haven’t had time to visit him and ask him what’s wrong. I just don’t understand, we were such good friends, and then he suddenly don’t want to talk to me, and-“

“Did this happen close to the date you and Lena got together?” he interrupted her. 

“No, not really, Lena and I have been together for a few years now, this happened last autumn-“

“Did he find out you were a couple, then stopped talking to you?” 

Emily looked mildly shocked.

“Oh my god, I am so stupid.”

“Not so stupid, but maybe a little bit,” Gabriel agreed, to the shocking shouts from Lena and Reinhardt. “I’m just joking, Jesus.”

“Do you think he liked me?” Emily said. “It just seems so absurd, but I do believe he found out that I and Lena are girlfriends, then started acting so weird. I can’t believe… I didn’t realize it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Emily, if he was just after a relationship with you, then he isn’t really a friend to keep,” Gabriel soothed, the best he could. He remembered once, when Sombra had fallen and hit her knee. She had cried like hell, until he had told her to “fucking man it up or be a small bitch”. After that she had been happy. Probably because she wasn’t treated like a baby anymore. But Emily wasn’t like that. She wanted to be treated like a baby, like she was the epicentre of the world.

“Yeah, you’re right, but I still don’t know if that’s how he actually felt,” Emily continued, and Gabriel was worried for a few seconds there that he was going to rip off someone’s head. Why couldn’t they just have fun? And how long had he been here now? 

“Emily, he just wanted to put his dick inside of you. It wouldn’t surprise me if he one day asked you and Lena for a threesome. The fact that he was such a douche that he couldn’t be friends with you since you are a lesbian and in a relationship, says quite a lot. So just forget about him, you’ll find others who are more interested in you as a person, and not in the romantic and sexual aspects of you.”

The others were silent. 

“Are you even drunk? How the hell can you speak so clearly, yet having drunk more than all of us in total,” Lena joked, Gabriel replying to her with a smile. 

“Don’t mistake me, I am actually having problems with seeing straight,” Gabriel laughed.

“Well, you’re not the only one, the only one who manage that is probably the shitbag of a friend you had, Emily,” Lena earned an angry glare from Emily with her comment. “What? Can’t I be angry that people are trying to bang my girlfriend?”  
“For once I agree with Lena and Gabriel, Emily, that dude you were speaking of, sounds like a shit,” Jack casually said, Gabriel trying to hide how the agreement between them went straight to his head.

“Let’s play another game,” Reinhardt suddenly shot in, earning a few agreeing shouts. It was somewhat adorable to see how much Reinhardt cared for his niece, and the effort he put into getting her onto other thoughts.

Gabriel finally felt his interest flare up again, replacing the want to leave. This had been a good night, so why couldn’t it continue like that?

“Can I get another beer?” 

 

 

“You two are totally wasted,” Emily stated as she stared at Gabriel and Jack putting on their shoes. Gabriel had been sitting for a while, trying to tie his shoes. 

“Of course not, I’ve barely drunk anything,” Jack slurred, as he put on his jacket. At first he tried to fit the wrong arm into the sleeve, until he understood what he was doing wrong. 

“This was a bad idea, how are you two getting home anyway? You won’t find your way back this drunk, Jack,” she questioned. “We can probably follow you home, if you want to?”

“No, God, no, I am not a child, I can find my way back perfectly,” he waved her away with his hand. “Even so, wasn’t Gabriel going to take the bus? He can probably follow me home.”

“Gabriel has never seen your house,” Emily sighed, the alcohol had already begun to fade from her blood. Gabriel wasn’t as sober as Emily yet, which was easy to see, since he was still having trouble with tying his shoes.

“It’ll be okay, right, Gabriel?” Jack was having trouble standing still, his balance shit.

“I’m going home, no way I’m helping your drunk ass home,” Gabriel joked, a broad smile on his face. “Or I could do it and then rob you or something.”

Emily sighed.

“I am going to regret letting you two go, but Gabriel, Jack has the address on his phone, so it’s just to open up the map app, and you’ll find the way to his house, but you just need to take left right outside here, and walk around 700metres. And oh, the house, it’s white, not too big. Medium actually, with an old red car on the outside.”  
“Yeah, yeah, got it, phone, 700metres, car, bye now,” Jack didn’t let Gabriel answer. Gabriel couldn’t fathom how Jack had gone from a little bit drunk to extremely drunk so fast, during their last game.

Gabriel almost fell face flat as he tripped on his shoelaces (which he had just given up with tying). 

When Emily closed the door, Gabriel realized that he could charge them for being accomplices in murder. Because Jack couldn’t even walk on his own. 

“Are you- you okay?” Gabriel stammered, while Jack was waving his cane around like a madman. 

“I can’t see.”

“Yeah, well, you’re blind.”

“Fuck, I think I am dying,” Jack walked towards Gabriel with awkward steps.

“Finally, some good news,” his voice was light with humour. He could see the other man sigh.

“Oh, shut up,” Jack smiled. When he reached Gabriel, he grabbed after his arm, before he tightly held onto the hem of his shirt. Gabriel looked down at his hand, trying to understand the situation.

“Why are you doing that?”

“I can’t see, you got to carry me home,” Jack laughed, alcohol making him act like a five year old. 

“Hell no, it’s not like you lost your feet, when you lost your eyesight,” he didn’t make a motion to remove Jack’s hand, just let his laughter ring out between them.

“Let me hold onto you at least, it’s so hard to walk straight,” the blonde murmured, the light from the streetlamps illuminating his face. 

“Don’t think I can help you with walking straight, you gotta do that on your own, dude.”

“I can’t believe you just said that, you and Lena never get tired of those jokes.” 

“And I can’t believe you’re not a bitch like usual,” Gabriel earned a small puff in the shoulder from Jack.

“Can’t help it when you’re,” he gestured with his free hand. “Like that.”

Gabriel gave him a sidelong glare.

“Like what?”  
“A rude dude who doesn’t thank blind people for catching them, when they walk into them at the store.”

“Okay, not so quick hotshot, I’ve said sorry, and you did _not_ catch me, I had everything under control,” Gabriel retorted, focusing (as much as he could with the alcohol) on the road. 

“You were definitely about to fall, you idiot. I remember managing to catch your skinny ass-“

“Skinny? What the hell are you talking about?” The comment made his pride shatter, as annoyance and worry bloomed up inside him.

“You’re skinny, aren’t you? Like by what I’ve felt? Or not skinny, but you’re definitely smaller than me,” Jack laughed, a goofy smile on his face.

This was horrible.

“Oh, don’t you even try me, if I had started working out again, I’m sure I could have shown you that you’re wrong.”

“And I’m sure I would have loved that.”

The comment made Gabriel’s eyes snap open, and he stared at Jack who had turned his head another direction, searching for something to explain the suggesting comment. But he had to be wrong. Because Jack was straight. He was just saying it would be cool to see him improve. Like, every guy who liked training did that, there was nothing homo about that. Right?

A short silence passed between them.

“I have to give you that you’re not as bad as I thought though,” Jack admitted, keeping his head straightforward. 

“Really? I thought you hated me more now that you knew me better, especially with the way you acted today.”

Jack huffed.

“I was wrong about something, and what you told Emily when she got all emotional, was pretty good.”

“Wrong about what?” Gabriel couldn’t help feeling curious, ignoring the other statement.

“Nothing big, just forget about it.”

“No, say it, what were you wrong about?”

“Nothing.”

The way Jack insisted on him forgetting made him even more wary and curious. Gabriel halted, his eyes falling upon a white house, with a rusty red car on the outside. This had to be it. It had been a surprisingly short way from Emily and Lena’s to Jack’s house, and he wondered if they had done it on purpose. 

“This is it, I think,” Gabriel said, and Jack started to search his own pockets. 

“What, where?” Jack sounded confused, squinting his eyes.

“Your home?”

“Why are we here?”

How could someone get so drunk?

 

 

He watched as Jack reached into his cabinet and searched for two tumblers. Jack’s shirt pulled up a little bit, revealing tan skin. Gabriel enjoyed the sight for a few seconds, before he averted his glare in order to look at the home.

Jack’s house was very tidy and every single thing was in some sort of system. It wasn’t surprising though, seeing how it had to be as easy as possible for Jack to find the things he was looking for. So it had been surprising when Jack had asked him if he could take down the whiskey from the shelf, trusting him with not fucking up his entire system.

“Nice place you got here,” Gabriel said, casually leaning against the kitchen island. 

“Thank you, I hope it’s nice. Lena and Emily have tried to make it look more _human_ here,” he shrugged, as he put the two tumblers down on the surface. Gabriel silently opened the bottle, and started pouring. “It hasn’t appealed to anyone, though.”

“What do you mean?” Gabriel questioned. 

“I have a room extra. But no one is keen on renting it, probably because they have to share living quarters with me. And since I’m blind, there’s quite a lot of rules included,” he laughed. “You don’t happen to need somewhere to live?”

“Hell no, I am not like one of those veterans,” he joked. Jack returned his smile, even though the joke was the reality for many of them. Gabriel had a weak feeling that he would soon join them. 

“Even so, I don’t think I can live with someone who gets as drunk as you, so easy. This is the only time I’ll ever help your ass into your own home, just so you know.”

“Tch, if you’re going to complain, then leave and let me drink my whisky alone.”

“No can do. I missed my bus, because you couldn’t remember that you had your keys in your pocket. The least you owe me is some whisky.”

They quietly sipped their whisky, and Gabriel had to admit it; Jack was hella good at buying whisky. The smooth, yet strong taste hit him, and he had to slow down, so he could enjoy the fantastic taste.

“If I were to guess, this whisky wasn’t exactly cheap, and so wasn’t this house. Are you some sort of mafia or do you in fact have a normal job?”

Jack automatically scratched the back of his head.

“I’m a professor and I travel a little bit around, talking about the army and the state of veterans today together with Ana.”

That was somewhat surprising, yet not. 

“Professor? That’s impressive. But isn’t it kind of hard being blind? Like you don’t know if someone in your class if jerking off or something.”

Jack actually rolled his eyes at that. 

“Really, Gabe? Are you ten years old? I’m not deaf. I would have known if someone had jerked off in front of me.”

“That is in fact not true, what if someone does it really silently?” Gabriel continued, his laughter filling the room. The alcohol was still shutting off his impulse control. 

“Jesus, Gabriel, who the fuck would jerk off in front of me lecturing? And the other students would notice, and I don’t think they would be silent about it.”

“Well, you never know, what if there’s a video of you on pornhub, titled _jerking off to my blind teacher who lacks a fashion sense_?” 

“Since you seem to be so sure that someone could do so, maybe you could check? Just tell me if you find anything, plus, my fashion sense is great.” Jack joked, but the thought of Jack in any sexual setting brought back the memories from the _dream_. He ignored the way his ears heated up.

“If there was one, it would probably be one of the most watched videos,” he couldn’t stop himself before he said it. 

Jack lowered his glass. 

Fuck. Shit. Now he had done it. 

“What do you mean? Why would anyone like to watch me lecturing while a dude jerked off to it?” Jack laughed, but there was something behind the way he scratched his neck, the way he suddenly seemed so shy.

Gabriel had no idea what to do.

“Well, you aren’t bad looking, or you probably wouldn’t know, but yeah, you’re in fact quite… hot? So it wouldn’t be surprising if people would like to watch something like that.” 

Was that was a blush covering Jack’s face, and did he just lick his lips? 

“Can’t say the same about you, since well, I can’t see,” he laughed and Gabriel joined in, trying to hide the awkwardness in his bones. 

How did he manage to be like _this_? 

“Though I can admit that your voice would fit the dom in a porn.”

The entire vibe in the room changed. It wasn’t a small cozy home anymore, suddenly it was like the air was electricity. There was no way in hell that Gabriel misread Jack, no straight dude would say something like that.  
Which was the only cue Gabriel needed, for his confidence and aggressiveness to skyrocket. 

He slowly put his glass down, and took a step towards Jack. He could see by the way Jack flinched, that he was aware that Gabriel had come closer. 

“That was very specific,” he lowered his voice, and took another small step closer to Jack. 

The other man was looking like he had a hard time standing on his feet. Gabriel saw it; he saw what kind of power he held over the other man. He wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or Jack actually being interested, but he knew he was not going to let this chance slip. 

“I didn’t stop having sexual preferences when I got blind,” Jack replied, still cocky. It was adorable how Jack tried to seem like a master of himself, when Gabriel knew that he could ruin that. 

Gabriel slowly touched Jack’s hand, taking the tumbler from his fingers. It was weirdly silent, the tension in the air so heavy, that they could almost touch it. They were both breathing heavy, standing so close that they could smell the scent of the other, mixed with alcohol. 

It was a surprise when Jack put his hand on Gabriel’ neck, simply resting it there, accepting his invitation. Before he slowly leaned forward, giving Gabriel time to react. 

Their lips was only a few centimetres apart, allowing their breath to mix. 

The shrilling ringtone cut through the air, making them both jump in surprise. Jack ripped his hand away as if he had touched fire, while Gabriel had to use a few seconds to understand what was causing the sound.

“Mierda,” he cursed, before he closed his eyes in pure annoyance. What a luck. The entire mood was completely ruined.

Jack looked like he had just snapped awake from a nap, because of a loud noise or something. 

“Aren’t you going to get that?” Jack cleared his throat, taking a step backwards. Now it was definitely awkward.

“It’s probably nothing important,” Gabriel muttered, yet he searched his pockets for it, annoyed by the sound. 

Once he held it in his hands, he considered to just put it on silent and try to get them into the mood again. He expected to see _her_ ringing, but it wasn’t. Instead it was a very familiar name. 

It took a few seconds before the call connected. 

_”Gabe?”_

“I hope this is important,” his voice was gruff as he answered, yet a worried tone underneath. He gave a quick look over at Jack, who was sipping from his glass. 

_“I need your help.”_


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update!! Thanks for reading and thanks for all the support! The chapter got a little bit too long (I try to keep it to 2k but this turned into 4k).  
> Tumblr: heydaddydad
> 
> TW: This chapter has attempted rape and characters being drugged, not in great detail and don't worry, nothing that hurts the characters happens. It all ends well.

Music was booming from the small apartment, as Gabriel kicked open the door. Smoke filled the hallway, and surprised shouts rained down around him. A bunch of teenagers looking too lazy for it being normal, stared at him with surprise, but also like they didn’t understand the situation completely. He heard someone shout “cops!” before being silenced by a small hit from their friend. 

“¿Quién coño eres tú?” a young man appeared in front of him, trying to block his way. Gabriel pushed him away, not caring to reply. 

“¿Dónde está Sombra?” his voice was rusty. It had been a long time since he spoke Spanish.

The other man tried to play cool, but the anxiety he was experiencing was clear as the sky.

“No sé,” he shrugged. Some other teenagers had appeared by his side. Gabriel sighed, before he pushed them away, allowing himself to walk into the hazy flat. He could recognize the smell of marijuana, which made the flame in the pit of his stomach grow bigger. 

He shouted her name, opened doors, before smacking them shut, when he only found youngsters leaned against the walls lazily or making out. 

When he kicked open the door to the bathroom, he almost snapped. Sombra was lying on the floor, unconscious by the looks of it, and he could hear the belt buckle snap open from the dude standing over her. 

The other man gave a shout of surprise, when Gabriel pinned him against the wall. For a few seconds Gabriel actually considered to suffocate the other man or turn on the water in the small tub, before pushing his head under there, holding until the other man could not fight no more. However, he was more worried about Sombra.

“What’s your name?” he barked, handling the man even more violent.

“¿Qué?” The younger man looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Speak fucking English, who the fuck are you?”

“J-Javier,” Gabriel threw him down onto the floor, letting him crash against the toilet.

“Well, Javier, you’re lucky that you didn’t get any further, or I would have fucking killed you right now. Touch her one more time and I hear about it, and I promise you, that you would have wished that I had finished this right now.” 

He picked up Sombra, carrying her over his shoulder, like a firefighter. His steps were loud and brisk, as he walked towards the door. Javier was shouting in Spanish to his comrades, some of them even daring to try and block the way out for him. He simply pushed them away. Even though he had not been really exercising for while, he was still like a bull. 

When he came down onto the street, the taxi was still waiting there, with Jack in the front seat. He threw Sombra in, before he jumped after her and buckled them both in. 

When he had made sure Sombra was okay, he unlocked his phone, and started dialling. 

“Who are you calling?” Jack questioned, not caring to turn around to speak to him.

“Guess. I’m not going to let these fuckers continue drugging down girls.”

“Police, then.”

Suddenly they heard shouts from the outside. Some of the men inside the apartment had realized what had happened, and started to move towards the taxi, with loud shouts. 

Jack didn’t wait a second before he reacted. 

“Go back to where we came from, just don’t sit there, Jesus fuck!” he shouted. The taxi driver looked scared shitless as he started pulling out of the small neighbourhood. 

Gabriel had to hold over one of his ears in order to hear what the police officer on the other side of the line said. 

He felt adrenaline pump through his blood, but as they came out on the main road and slowly put the distance between them and the place, he started to relax. He continued to give the information to the lady, and when she thanked him and hung up, he leaned backwards in his seat. He quickly glanced over at Sombra who was sleeping peacefully, streetlights colouring her face.

He had thought he was an idiot. She was a bigger one. 

 

 

**THIRTY MINUTES AGO**

 

_“I need your help, I think someone has given me something, I am not sure, but I feel like shit,”_ her usual colourful voice was filled with worry.

“Where are you?” Gabriel was already on his way to the door, the alcohol in his blood long forgotten and replaced by adrenaline. 

“No sé, pero mi amiga-“

“Speak English,” Gabriel interrupted her. 

_“Gabriel, this is really not the time to have language discussions, just, fuck, get me out of here, I can’t call_ tía _, she’ll kill me if she finds out about this,”_ she was speaking rapidly, small grammar errors making their way into her speech. 

“Gabriel!” Gabriel was already out the door as Jack shouted after him. 

“Send me the address, and don’t leave your friend. I’ll be there soon,” he was walking fast, no destination in mind, just stress pulsing around his body.

The door to the small house was thrown open and Jack shouted his name. Gabriel answered the shout with an annoyed yeah, his focus completely on the telephone, waiting for the address. 

Jack awkwardly ran out, cane in one hand and jacket in the other. 

“What the hell is happening?” he said, not directed towards Gabriel, but the darkness surrounding them.

“I need to leave, my sister is in trouble and I need to get to her before it can get worse,” he massaged his face. Jack turned towards his voice, finally being able to orient himself. 

The phone gave a small _pling_ and Gabriel’s eyes burned from the light of bright screen. 

“Do you know where,” he furrowed his brows as he read out the address. Heck, he had never heard about this place. His phone seemed even slower than usual as it tried to show him the address on the map.

“Yeah, it’s about twenty minutes away from here,” Jack replied, the jacket completely mismatching his clothes. 

The map had finally been completely loaded.

“Okay, thanks, see you later,” Gabriel started walking, looking at the red dot on the map.

“Gabriel, it’s twenty minutes with car. You’ll use way too much time.”

“Then what do you suggest? It won’t help to just stand here,” he was surprised at how angry he sounded. Yet Jack didn’t flinch. He was standing strong.

“You need to take a cab.”

“Well, that’s easier said than done, I don’t have enough cash to do that,” Gabriel bit, his voice full off venom.

“Just call that taxi, I’ll pay it.”

Surprise.

“No, I can’t let you do that-“

“Gabriel, your sister is in need of help, I am not a monster, I can afford to help you out. So stop arguing and just call that damn cab.”

When the taxi finally pulled up on the street, Gabriel thought he was about to kill someone. It had been a long while since he had been this stressed. When he entered the car, and started to complain about Jack coming with him, he received an angry look, which closed off all discussion. They sat there, silently, watching the street lights pass by. 

Jack didn’t argue when they pulled up to the small neighbourhood and Gabriel bailed off towards the house alone.

 

 

The sun felt like it was trying to burn through his eyelids, and he tried to turn around, hid deeper down into the couch, but it felt like nothing helped. There was also a bitch of a headache banging in his head, which was probably caused by the unknown number of beers he had drunk, plus the vodka Jack had served him. 

He wasn’t sure if he should try to cover his ears from the horrible music coming from the kitchen or hide his eyes even more. His legs felt like lead and he didn’t want to get up at all. 

The taste of shit in his mouth was the deciding factor that finally got him to sit up from the white sofa. His eyes adjusted to the light, which seemed brighter than usual. He kicked away the blanket that was draped over his legs and picked up his socks. Then he got up and headed towards the source of the music.

When he got closer to the small kitchen, he could smell something. It was very sweet and his stomach automatically rumbled, alcohol not being enough nutrition. 

Jack was flipping a pancake (what kind of spatula _was_ that?) when Gabriel entered the room. The radio was turned on and thank God, the awful song was finally over, switched out with another less bad song (but still bad though).

“Morning,” Jack didn’t turn around as he spoke, focused on the pancakes. Gabriel grumbled back a reply, before he fell into one of the chairs surrounding the kitchen island. “How’s the shape?”

“After drinking me halfway to death? Never felt better,” he couldn’t help the sarcasm bleeding through his voice.

Jack carefully moved the pancake over to a plate stacked with other pancakes.  
“I’m going to ignore that reply and blame it on your hangover, but it’s nice to hear that you’ve never felt better,” Jack bit back, just as aggressive. 

That was one thing Gabriel had noticed about Jack; how he went from relaxed to defensive in seconds.

“Well, I can’t help that I’m- you know what? I’m sorry. I’m in a shit mood and I shouldn’t push that over at you,” Jack actually looked surprised by Gabriel’s apology. “You really helped me out last night, so I should actually thank you. I would never have thought that someone would help me out like that, God I hate thanking people, just, thanks man. It meant a lot.”

Jack was clearly taken aback and shrugged.

“I couldn’t just stand by and watch, it was simply my duty as a human being.”

“Yeah, but not everyone would do that. I’m going to pay you back by the way, I just have to get a little bit of cash before-“

“Gabriel,” Jack cut him off. “You don’t need to pay me back.”

Gabriel stared at him as if he had just said he was Jesus. 

“Jack, I can’t let you-“

“End of discussion,” Jack’s voice was harsh and deemed authority. “You will not pay me back.”

Silence fell between them, as Gabriel tried to think out ways around. 

In the end he didn’t come up with any way to make Jack change his mind, so he changed the subject completely, in order to lighten the mood. 

“Do you like just randomly pick out clothes when you are shopping and never ask someone if they actually match?”

Jack gave him a small laugh and shrugged.

“Emily helps me sometimes, and if this doesn’t match then you can blame Lena. I’m trying to have a colour palette, but somehow Lena doesn’t understand that and just throws me things she think looks cool,” his voice was light, and he put another pancake on the plate. Gabriel wasn’t sure if he had seen someone be so fast, except his mother. It didn’t bring out any fond memories. 

“Over to more important matters though; how is your sister?” 

Gabriel was just about to reply, when someone cut him off.

“If we look apart from the fact that I think I just shitted out my intestines and are hungry as hell, I believe I’m in a very good state to be honest,” Sombra was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed. Even though she supposedly felt like shit, she had a small smile around her mouth. 

Gabriel moved so fast, that Sombra didn’t have any time to complain, when he pulled her into a tight hug. They stood there for a few seconds, Sombra clearly uncomfortable by the act of care. When they pulled apart, he stared her straight in the eye.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?”

She smiled, before pushing her long unruly hair behind her ear.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

They both jumped around when Jack clinked two plates down onto the kitchen counter.

“You said you were hungry?” He said, before he turned around to continue his cooking. 

Sombra was looking at him through snakelike eyes.

“Yeah, I am, but who the hell are you and why the fuck are we here? Gabriel, have you moved from hell and over here?” 

“Jesus, Sombra, language. No, I haven’t moved and you should be a little bit more respectful, if it wasn’t for Jack,” he gestured towards the other man, “you’d still be at that shithole.”

She lifted an eyebrow at that.

“So a disabled dude helped me? How pitiful were _Los muertos_ if he managed to help me?”

Gabriel could notice the shift in Jack as Sombra’s words left her mouth. He kind of wanted to tell her to shut up, but at the same time, he knew that it would only make Jack feel worse to be babied. 

“Jack let you sleep here and paid for the cab that I used to get you. So yeah, a _disabled dude_ helped you,” Gabriel’s voice was stern and he felt a small twinge of annoyance at Sombra. Sometimes she could be completely blind of others feelings. 

“The fuck? Is this gringo your sugardaddy or something?” 

Gabriel was thankful that for once he managed to keep the blush down and look relaxed. 

“I guess it runs in your family?” Jack suddenly said, attracting the attention from both of them.

“What do you mean?” They asked in unison and side eyed each other.

“Being rude and lacking manners, it seems like it must have something to do with family, concerning the fact that you both are two of the rudest people I’ve ever met. And if you don’t sit down soon and eat those pancakes, I’m going to throw them in the garbage,” Jack said, yet there was a tinge of humour beneath his words. Good. He was not too offended by Sombra’s shitty manners. 

Sombra and Gabriel sat down on the chair like two puppies who had been yelled at.

“So are you going to tell us what happened last night?” Gabriel casually asked, but there was a hint of iron beneath it. Sombra shrugged while she ate the pancakes ridiculously fast, resembling someone who had been starved for years. 

“What is it to say? I went to a party, things went wrong,” her words came out as muffled in between the bites.

“Went wrong? It went worse than that. If it wasn’t for us, you’d be-“ Gabriel was about to enter a rant, but he cut off at that moment. She didn’t need to know what had almost happened to her, it would probably only cause more worry. Even so, she was only seventeen, she was still young. “Anyways, why were you there and what happened to your friend?”

“Friend? Who do you- oh, wait, don’t think about that, she went home before I got drugged, so-“

“You were there alone?” Gabriel interrupted.

“That has nothing to do with the case, I don’t need others to protect me,” she rolled her eyes.  
Gabriel was unimpressed, and so was Jack, judging by the look on his face. 

“You do Sombra, you really are not as though as you think. Anyway, why were you there? You don’t usually like going to parties.”

“Gabe, I’m not the eight year old girl anymore, you know? And someone promised me that they would give me a new computer if I went,” her tone was entirely casual, but her comment made both Gabriel and Jack shout _what!_ in unison. She tried to calm them down, as both of them started shouting out how stupid her behaviour had been. 

“I know, I know, but I was willing to take the risk you know? I need more than one computer; my other cannot handle it when I… do things…. On it,” she side eyed Jack. “El gringo es no policia, verdad?”

Gabriel shook his head, assuring her that her fear was unneeded. 

“Well, everything went great in the beginning, until someone managed to put something in my coke, (coke!), and I lost a little bit of time. But even so, I had everything under control,” she was simply defending herself now, and Gabriel considered contradicting her, but let it go. “But, now you have asked me questions, so it’s finally my turn. Who is the gringo?”

Jack looked up from his plate, a surprised look on his face.

“I can’t believe that you finally ask me who I am, maybe there is a small hope for your manners,” his voice was dripping of sarcasm and Gabriel looked at him unimpressed. 

Before Sombra could open her mouth and argue more, Gabriel cut in.

“Jack Morrison, a friend of mine.”

Sombra nodded and didn’t ask more questions about him. Gabriel knew that if she wondered about something, she would find out on her own, since by what he knew, she was quite skilled at acquiring information on the web. 

“How come we are here and not in your apartment, Gabe?” she asked, intrigued.

“Because my apartment was further away,” Gabriel considered not telling the truth, but eventually gave in. “And I sold my bed, so you would have had to sleep at the couch, which didn’t seem proper, so Jack lent us his couch and guest room.”

“Hospital?”

“I considered taking you to the hospital, until I remembered that you wouldn’t want that, so I didn’t. And your condition seemed to be stable, so I didn’t see it as necessary.” 

“I didn’t, so thank you. Does tía know?”

Gabriel almost spit out his pancakes (which he was the slowest at eating).

“Do you think I’m stupid? She wouldn’t have let you leave the house anymore and would have tried to kill me over the phone if I spoke with her,” his voice was filled with annoyance and anger. 

“The part of keeping me inside seems probable, but how would she kill you over the phone? Haven’t you spoken with her?” Sombra questioned. Her big brown eyes, which was usually violet because of ridiculous (it was actually pretty cool) contact lenses, focused on him, and he got a flashback to when she was much younger, staring at him as he did his homework. 

“No, why would I? Last time we spoke, she told me that I was the worst thing that had ever happened to her and that she wished Jesse was her son instead,” it hurt a lot to actually say those words, but the hardest part was mentioning Jesse. 

Sombra actually laughed at that. 

“Jesse? Don’t she know that Jesse used to suck your dick before?” 

He wanted to die, when he saw the way Jack stiffened. 

“Sombra.”

“What? It’s not like it’s a secret or something,” she shrugged, her cat like eyes searching over his face. “But that explains why she has been so nice to him. I actually believed she might have changed, how stupid of me.”

“Yeah, and you don’t need to tell her that-“

“Gabe, do you really think I’d do something like that to my friend? I am not like you, I can’t just act like that and run away from the situation afterwards. And you should call Jesse, he misses you.”

With too much force, he clanked his cutlery on his plate, before he abruptly got up.

“I think it’s time we got you home,” it only took a few seconds before he was dialling a number, lifting the phone up to his ear.

“Gabe, really? Are you going to avoid talking about it or anything that bothers you, just so that you can continue to drag all of us down?” Sombra continued. That was the part he hated about Sombra. She never stopped, she always pushed forward, because she _knew_ he never would do anything to hurt her. 

“You know this is not affecting only you? Jesse is really worried about you, he can’t go on like this, and tía-“

“To hell with her, Sombra! I don’t fucking care,” his was suddenly got louder, anger taking over his impulse control. Sombra stared at him with a blank glance and he realized that he had clenched his fist around his phone. He turned to look at Jack, who looked surprised and shocked. 

He opened his mouth and closed it, suddenly ashamed by his anger. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout, but I’m not in the mood of discussing this right now, Sombra.” 

“You never are,” she murmured, almost so that he did not hear it. Just as he was going to bite back a reply, the other side of the phone answered. He had almost forgotten that he was calling someone. 

_”What?”_ Amélie’s voice was rough and for once she didn’t sound like she had everything under complete control.

“Can you come get me? I have Sombra here and she can’t get home on her own, and you own a car so-“

He could hear her sigh.

Sombra was staring at him and it was very apparent that she was trying to hear whom he was talking to, their fighting slowly being forgotten. 

_”You can walk.”_

“Amélie, I saved your unsocial ass yesterday, so now you can return the favour,” when Sombra finally managed to catch onto who he was speaking to, her face light up.

_”Gabriel, it’s Sombra we’re talking about. Last time we was in a car together, she told me that she liked older ladies and made it quite apparent what she insinuated. I am not putting myself in that situation again.”_

“Amélie, _please_.”

It was silent on the other side for a few seconds, before Amélie made an inhuman screech, which left Gabriel shock. 

_”Only this once,_ ” she muttered, before she hung up. 

Sombra popped up right next to him, looking at him with big eyes.

“Are Amélie going to drive us?” she asked, hope pouring through her voice.

“Go get your things,” he answered, smiling a little when she bounced away, her mood restored. 

When she finally left the kitchen, the music was still looming in the background. Gabriel turned towards Jack and looked at him. He had started washing the dishes, wearing yellow plastic gloves. Gabriel was about to move over to him, to do _something_ , but then he realized; had Jack meant everything last night? 

He suddenly felt dread fill his stomach and the room felt a whole lot smaller. What if everything was a mistake? What if it only had been the alcohol that made him act that way? 

With everything that had happened, he hadn’t really had the time to think things through, especially not with Sombra in the house. 

Jack flinched when he heard Gabriel walk over to him, but he continued focusing on his task. Gabriel had started to be accustomed to that Jack usually didn’t turn towards others to speak, just continued doing what he did. 

“Hey,” Gabriel said, trying to sound casual, but his nerves was showing through. 

“Hey?” Jack’s voice sounded somewhat confused, but he smiled a little bit, which eased up the dread Gabriel felt. A small hope tried to push away the dread.

“So, about last night-” Just as his words left his mouth, Jack froze. It was like someone had taken a TV-controller and just turned him off.  
So he had been right. It was the alcohol, it had to be the reason why Jack had acted like that. Jack wasn’t gay or bisexual, he had just been following the stream, curious probably. 

“Let’s just forget that it happened,” he blurted out, and he suddenly wished that they were in a snowstorm, so that the heat in his cheeks would vanish. 

Jack didn’t reply at first, he just continued washing. Gabriel stared at the way the light hit his eyelashes, making his eyes even bluer. 

“Okay.”

It hurt. 

They didn’t say anymore, just ended it as that, as Sombra came running down, still wearing Jack’s oversized shirt. When she entered the room, she glanced at them, surely catching onto that something had happened, since both of them was standing there awkwardly. But she sat down on one of the chairs once more, and started speaking enthusiastically to Gabriel. If it weren’t for the tense atmosphere, it would have been perfect. He really had missed Sombra. 

When they heard a car pull up outside and honk it’s horn, Sombra was already on her way outside. Gabriel moved more deliberately, making his way to the front door, where his shoes were thrown around. Jack followed after, leaning towards the wall, silently. 

They didn’t exchange any words. 

Just as Gabriel opened the door and set foot outside, Jack shouted after him.

“Gabriel.”

He turned around, and he couldn’t even wrap his head around how beautiful Jack looked, with sunshine in his hair and cheeks red as roses. 

“It wasn’t the alcohol that made me act that way last night, if that was what you thought,” he blurted out, and the roses deepened. 

For a few seconds his heart stopped and electricity went from his chest and out to his fingertips and toes. 

“So if you want to hang out sometime…” he broke off, an uncertain look on his face.

Gabriel stared at him in silence, before he broke out into a smile.

“I’d love to do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is translation of the Spanish parts (there might be grammar errors there, even though I've had Spanish for five years and were in Spain last week :'))
> 
> Quién coño eres tú? - who the hell are you?  
> ¿Dónde está Sombra? - where is Sombra?  
> No sé - I don't know  
> Qué? - what?  
> No sé, pero mi amiga - I don't know, but my friend  
> El gringo es no policia, verdad - The gringo is not police, right?


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still working on it, fear not. 
> 
> I just have a lot of school right now and I had a really big writing block with this thing. Was actually supposed to post more when I had written a whole lot more, but i found out i had to rewrite a WHOLE lot of things, and i didn't want to let you wait so much longer. But I'm trying to finish this project! By the way it is looking rn it'll probably get to 40k before it is finished. 
> 
> If there's not enough spacing between the paragraphs, I would love to know. 
> 
> However, thanks for all the support!  
> Tumblr: heydaddydad  
> (if you want to play overwatch with me, my account is gunwar99 -it's a pun on my real name- it's just to add me on ps4!)

“You really aren’t used to running, are you?” Jack smiled, perched on top of a small bench. He wiped away a small bead of sweat running down his face with a blue towel. His mouth was twisted into a smile.

“Shut up,” Gabriel muttered, still feeling like he was going to throw up his guts.

Saying yes to go exercising with Jack, the day after drinking a lot (which was actually everyday), had been a bad idea. His strongest suit was weightlifting, not running, which had only made this worse, together with the fact that he hadn’t really exercised for months. Even though he still was strong, his shape had faltered so much, so running physically _hurt_. 

He knew he could have asked Jack to slow down, but telling your crush that you weren’t good enough shape to keep up with him, was kind of shameful. It was silly, to act like a teenager in love and try to impress Jack, but it wasn’t like he had any other choice.

Jack laughed at his answer, and handed him his water bottle. Gabriel swiftly took it from him, ignoring the fact that _those_ lips had touched it, and took a long sip, before he handed it back to him. He always had to make sure he did not throw things to Jack out of habit, cause, well, Jack could not see. 

His phone buzzed.

“Next time we lift,” his voice came out gruff, still breathing heavily after running. He looked down at the message that had popped up on his phone.

**Sombra:** _U rly need 2 speak with tía_

“I can live with that,” Jack replied, leaned against the wall. He had closed his eyes, looking weirdly at peace, yet full of energy. “Actually, it’s very good, I haven’t really had a,” he stopped for a second, thinking through his words, “buddy that I could exercise with.”

**Gabriel:** _why_

“What about Lena?” Gabriel lifted a brow, trying to focus on the conversation, meanwhile he answered Sombra.

“I can run with her, even though she focuses on sprints, but I can’t lift weights with her, cause she is not interested in it at all,” he sighed, before he slowly got up from the bench again. “And Ana is currently moving, so there is no hope there either.”

Gabriel gently let Jack take a hold of his arm (he was overly aware of how sweaty he was), and started leading him away from the treadmills. 

“I see your problem,” he confirmed, leading them towards another room filled with mats. “I used to exercise with Amélie, but she went and bought weights and everything to have at home.”

“Really? Didn’t she like- oh, wait, sorry, I forgot how she is with loud sounds,” Jack apologized, having seen his mistake before he had time to finish it. 

“Yeah, she isn’t too great with them after,” he breathed in,” the accident she and Gerard was involved in.”

Jack nodded. 

“She told about it once, but not in great detail, however, I can understand why she has troubles with it now,” Jack slowly sat down, when Gabriel gave him a short command. They both started stretching, doing different exercises at different times, but mostly, they had the same. The phone buzzed again.

**Sombra:** _shes sick_

“Enough about that, what are you doing after this?” Jack asked, while he was grabbing after his foot. 

Gabriel looked up from his phone at Jack in surprise.

“Nothing much, how so?”

Jack, horribly sweaty, but still ridiculously beautiful, gave him a flash of those white teeth and smiled.

“Wanna grab a bite?”

 

As they walked down the street, their voices mingling together with the chatter from the streets, their hands accidently touched for a split second, and Gabriel couldn’t remember feeling his heart race so fast.

 

 

They fell into a pattern, Gabriel and Jack. Why they did so was a surprise to Gabriel, because after that _night_ , they hadn’t really mentioned it and the most probable outcome had been that they wouldn’t speak any time again. However, they went ahead and had exercised together, acting like a pair of friends. If they met someone they knew, they would introduce the other as their friend. It was painstakingly annoying. 

Usually, Gabriel would fuck his date in no time. They would have a good time for a couple of weeks, until they got tired of each other and didn’t speak anymore and just shushed at their friends when they mentioned the other. But this wasn’t like this. This was completely different. Why was it so different? A) Jack and Gabriel had known each other for three months now. B) Nothing at all happened. No touches. No kisses. Nothing. Gabriel was going mad. 

It wasn’t like they were really close now, after knowing each other for a few months. They still were very awkward around each other, but they had arrived at a point where they knew a little bit about each other. Like Gabriel knew that Jack disliked being a professor, because he had to sit still, and missed being in the force. He also knew that Jack tried to cook all his food from scratch, that Jack’s favourite means of exercise was running and that he barely drank alcohol (except when he did, he drank _much_ ). Meanwhile Jack knew that Gabriel didn’t have a job, drank way too often for it to be normal and had literal no cash to use. He couldn’t remember how many times Jack had asked I he wanted to go outside and do something that cost money and he had had to say no. Jack had also learned that Gabriel liked to just be on Facebook for hours and had no problems with watching an entire series in a few days time. 

The pattern they had fallen into after that weekend was that they exercised together. Every day in the week, except Thursday (which was the support group day, that Gabriel didn’t attend to, but Jack did) and Sunday. He had begged Amélie to lend him money, which she had done immediately when he told her it was for going to the gym. This entire ordeal had only proved to make everything more painful. 

For when they exercised, Gabriel would have full view of how Jack’s muscles flexed and moved underneath his shirt and how concentration filled Jack’s sun-tanned face. It was horrible. But the worst part had been when Jack had casually touched his arm and told him how strong he was. Gabriel was sure he had been about to die at that moment, because the heat in his face had made him feel like he was about to explode. 

He knew he just had to make a move, but he couldn’t. Every time he tried to, his voice would vanish and his head would swim. He had never felt like this, so in lack of control. With Jesse he had always been the older one, the one who took care of the other, which had worked perfect for them. Now he felt more helpless than Jack who was lacking his sight. It was horrid. 

His eyes followed the line of skin that was revealed as Jack lifted the weights over his head. They usually switched when one had done a set, and worked together (which was essential for Jack, since he couldn’t fix the weights on his own, or he could, but it took way to much time). The worst part about Jack being blind was that Gabriel could see how handsome he was, meanwhile Jack couldn’t see his ass, which was a piece of art. 

When Jack finally was done, he moved back so Gabriel could adjust the weights to his liking. Usually they would have some sort of small talk between those periods of silence, and Jack didn’t disappoint this time either.

“Have you spoken with Amélie?” He casually asked, another man almost stumbling into him on his way past, yet Jack was unfazed (he couldn’t see, why would he notice).

“No, has something happened?” He responded, before he began his exercise, feeling his muscles work. 

“I heard a few rumours from Emily that Lena and Amélie had talked about a trip to some sort of cabin,” Gabriel laughed as Jack spoke.

“Lena and Amélie? Sounds more like Lena, since I am pretty sure Amélie isn’t too keen on using her cabin,” his words came out hard as he lifted the weights. “And when Amélie actually wants to hang out with someone, I believe we will have to call the ambulance.”

Jack shook his head as he laughed. 

“I guess you’re right. But it sounded like they were pretty serious about this and wanted us two to join,” Jack slowly moved over to Gabriel as he dropped the weights down. They smoothly exchanged places, Gabriel standing back and helping him with doing it correctly.

“I wouldn’t say no to that, her cabin is _huge_. However doesn’t all of you have work, since going up there from Friday to Sunday would be a little bit tragic, since the car drive is about six hours-“

His phone started ringing. Jack flinched when he heard the sound.

“Who is it?” He asked, as he prepared himself. Gabriel squinted at the light screen.

“Speak of the devil,” he muttered as he lifted the phone to his ear. Jack didn’t proceed to do anything, but instead wait for Gabriel to finish his call. 

“Hey.”

“Bonjour,” a voice replied on the other end of the line, a British accent hanging through. 

“Where’s Amélie and why don’t you use your own phone, Lena?” Gabriel asked, ending his question with a sigh. 

“Because you never reply when I call you! And she’s with me right now. We’re out running, Emily is making us lunch when we get back,” she told rather proudly, as if her girlfriend had just beat the Goliath. 

“And you’re calling me, because?” He knew he was sounding impatient, but after one time he had tried to be courtly towards Lena, he had been trapped into a conversation for hours about different dog breeds (it had been interesting, but he was busy right now).

“You see, Amélie have a cabin _(Lena, I’ve known Amélie for years, I know that)_ which is not far away _(when did six hours become not far away?)_ so it would be nice if you would join? Emily have already spoken with Jack,“ Lena continued, trying to ignore every time he interrupted her. 

“Yeah, me too, we’re at the gym right now. And no, I can’t go with you, so bye-“ he was about to end the call, but Lena’s thin voice continued.

“Don’t be so uptight! I know you have time, Amélie told me that, well, you only stay home,” Lena was rambling right now and Gabriel closed his eyes in annoyance. He could hear the distant sound of Amélie complaining about Lena snitching on her. 

“But, really, Gabe, don’t be such a loner, come with us! Amélie said she’d make crepes - _you’re saying it wrong!_ \- if you came with us, and the cabin is close to the slalom slope, plus there’s a Jacuzzi!” Gabriel knew that everything she mentioned was true (and he really wanted to use the Jacuzzi again, it had been ages since last time), but the thought of doing anything at all was exhausting. Just exercising was a big enough challenge. 

But then there was also the fact that Jack was going. He stole a small glance over at the blonde, who was still waiting patiently. 

“I’ll go with you guys if Jack joins. No way in hell am I going there with only you three,” he resigned, a small shout of happiness from the other side. “But we are busy, so can we discuss this later?”

 

Gabriel had been scrolling through Facebook and blogs for the last two hours, interrupting himself a few times, in order to show Sombra a video he had found or something laughable about another person. She wasn’t any better, the only difference was that she had brought her computer and was doing things he didn’t quite get. But whatever she did, she found out a whole lot of embarrassing facts about others (which was _very_ enjoyable). 

“Hey, listen to this, this blogger is talking about how much her ass have changed just by doing 25kg squats, trying to make it seem natural that her ass is this big, but you can literally see that she has done surgery,” he turned the phone towards Sombra, who used a second to look away from her computer and look at his phone. She laughed. 

“Classic, I like how people actually believe that,” Sombra suddenly started typing furiously on her keyboard, still holding a conversation with him. “If 25kg gives you that great ass, then my ass should be a masterpiece.”

He snorted, before resuming his scrolling. The best thing about hanging out with Sombra, was that they didn’t need to do anything at all. They just sat there, minding their own business and talked shit about someone else occasionally. When he first met Sombra, he hadn’t believed that they would get this kind of connection when she got older, but he had been very wrong. 

That was one of the good things that Gabriel had gotten out of the night at Jack’s place (mostly, the night had just left him sexually frustrated); Sombra had suddenly started hanging out with him more often again. For whatever reason she had come back, he didn’t know, but it wasn’t like it didn’t make him happy. In fact, it had helped him a lot, and made him take on a part time job, which was only a few times a month, but it was better than nothing. He still drank too much, if it wasn’t every night, then it was every second night. Sombra couldn’t stay with him all the time and so couldn’t his restraint. 

The bedroom door opened and Amélie looked at them unimpressed. 

“Can you please stop using my house as a place to hangout?” she asked, one brow lifted. Gabriel felt a little bit self-conscious about always ending up at Amélie’s house, but it was literally amazing. It was top-notch, but the best part was that her shower actually worked properly.

“Nope, can’t do, your wifi is better than the one at my house,” Sombra continued typing, only stealing a small glance at Amélie. “And Gabe don’t even have wifi for whatever reason.”

Gabriel muttered something about it being expensive. 

Amélie sighed.

“I am considering asking you to pay rent for staying here so much, because this is ridiculous,” she walked into the room and picked up a few pillows that had fallen down from her bed, before she simply stood there and looked at the two of them. Gabriel looked at her expectantly, before she continued. 

“Who wants pizza?”

They both answered immediately, before resuming staring at their phone and computer.

It didn’t take long before Amélie came back with homemade pizza (she never bought takeaway, except if it was very good and expensive) and sat down beside Gabriel in the bed, starting to scroll through Facebook too. 

Even if she always tried to seem like she was better than everyone else, her favourite pass time activity was talking about others too, so it was no surprise that she was friends with Gabriel and Sombra.

“I am so tired of Lena,” she abruptly said, having moved to lie on her stomach, legs up in the air over her bum. 

“What’s the problem?” Gabriel asked, one brow lifted. 

“She always posts so much, like every day she shares articles about planes or something about justice, and it is so annoying. She destroys my Facebook feed. In addition, she posts a picture of herself or something she’s doing _every day_ , and on every picture, Reinhardt comments on every one of them that it looks fun,” she entered a rant, carrying on, while picking up a new pizza slice. 

“If you’re so tired of her, why not just block her. And she’s not that annoying,” he commented, scratching his head. 

“How can you not find her annoying? Once she posted three picture of her and Emily every day for two weeks straight, when they were on a vacation together,” she complained. “Even so, she doesn’t even make albums, she just posts a single picture every time.” 

“What did you say her name was?” Sombra asked.

“Lena Oxton.”

Gabriel caught a glimpse of Sombra typing that name on a site (?) he couldn’t entirely understand what was, but he decided to ignore it. It was just nice to be skilled at finding information online, he was proud of Sombra. Soon images filled her screen. Sombra scrolled down, before laughing.

“Yeah, you are right, there is a great amount of pictures of her and others- oh wait, isn’t that Jack?” Sombra pointed at one of the pictures. It was indeed Jack, with his short blonde hair. He was standing next to Lena, turned a little bit away from her, sunglasses on and a horrid shirt on, yet Gabriel couldn’t help feeling his heart jump at the sight. 

“Yeah, that’s him,” he murmured, a small blush on his face. Sombra continued scrolling, and a photo of Jack standing in the sun, once again wearing mismatching clothes. It was on pure impulse that he smiled a little bit, and allowed himself to enjoy how cute Jack was. He was about to stretch forward and grab another slice, when he met Amélie’s eyes, and the expression of clarity on her face stopped him dead in his tracks. 

He didn’t need to ask. Neither did she. They just stared at each other, a smile playing at Amélie’s lips, meanwhile Gabriel’s face was filling with dread. He quickly shook his head and looked at Sombra, trying to pass on his intention. Amélie caught on immediately and relaxed backwards, looking at him with a smug expression. 

She didn’t mention it, as they continued to eat pizza, and it wasn’t until they had drove Sombra home ( _please, Amélie, let me stay over, I promise I’ll be good, coupled with a sly smile from Sombra and an exaggerated sigh from Amélie_ ) that she started asking questions.

“So, you and Jack?” she asked, innocently enough, as she made a sharp turn out of the neighbourhood Sombra lived. Gabriel had been ducking his head down, in fear of tía realizing he was outside. Sombra had gotten mad at him for doing so, and started on her usual tirade of telling him that he needed to speak with tía, because it was urgent. That was when they had kicked her out of the car and said that they needed to get going.

“Just forget it,” he muttered, putting on his beanie. Lights were dancing over Amélie’s pale hands on the wheel. It was weird how darkness managed to make everything seem so unreal, even the simplest of things, like driving a car. 

“I can’t forget it, when it was apparent that there is something between the two of you,” she pushed a lose strand of hair behind her ear. “I didn’t know you liked him.”

“I don’t, you are wrong,” Gabriel’s sudden outburst made her lift one of her eyebrows. “Or, no, you are right, but there’s no use speaking about it, cause Jack is not interested.”

“Yeah, he seems uninterested when he has hung out with you every week since you first met,” the irony of her voice was almost poisonous. 

“That’s only like friends, we are nothing more,” his face was filling with heat at a dangerous rate. 

“If you say that it is nothing, then I will believe the opposite. Do you remember before you and Jesse got together, and Jesse flirted with you so much, but you kept denying that he liked you?”

“Shut up, that’s not how it was,” he turned towards the window at the side of the car, making even more space between him and Amélie.

She sighed.

“If you say so, then.”

 

Gabriel hadn’t believed that Lena, Emily, Amélie and Jack could ever come to a decision on the date with the cabin trip, but suddenly it was just a week until they were going away, and bags were being packed. Of course not Gabriel’s; he always waited until the day he was going away with packing things. 

There was actually a small possibility that this trip wouldn’t turn out 100% horrible and undesirable, and he soon started looking forward to it (mostly to the Jacuzzi and spending time with Jack).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Filler chapter... I know its not that exciting, but it is necessary for the plot.


End file.
